Day one - Ten steps to starting freshers week

Checklist:

  • Halls Check In
  • Goodbye Mum and Dad
  • Got lost - was found
  • Said hey to the ducks
  • Awkward chat about the weather
  • Got asked ‘Where’d ya come from?’
  • Unpacked … roughly
  • Food?  Nah … let’s get some drink.
  • Found people to go to Freshen Up tonight
  • Go home with people you’ll never remember

First day of the new academic year here at Heriot-Watt, and it hasn’t been without incident.  Did you leave this morning with butterflies in your tummy?  Or did it all start innocuously enough?  Freshers began arriving from 06:00 (too keen!) and by seven the first shiny red fire engine of the new semester had been called out.  It wasn’t even the work of a new student, having overcooked their first beans and toast meal.  Turns out cleaners had been preparing for the arrival of the Freshers and had left the hot tap on …  for so long that the room filled with steam and set off the fire alarm, calling the fire brigade to the scene.  Sure they’re pleased to know that Uni has started back. 

As the day wore on and the halls began to fill, more fun and games ensued.  Leonard Horner Hall, great for rolling out of bed and right into the Union, were initially without water, handy the Loch is close by.  At one point it was looking like staying that way until Monday!  Luckily Your Union intervened and the residents of LH are going home to showers and glasses of water, thank goodness, just as you’d expect from a 21st century university campus.  Other highlights included Robert Bryson residents starting a new keep fit regime, as they had to relay back and forth from their Halls in Beverley Hills, to the main Uni reception, waving hey to the Jimmy Watt statue on the way by, in an effort to get their hands on their new room keys.  The Freshers Helpers are so dedicated that the only First Aid needed today was for one of them who got stung by a bee, probably thanks to their bright yellow t-shirts!  But hopefully, we’ve all overcome these minor mishaps, got over the fact that we forgot to pack any underwear, or left our left foot of your favourite pair of shoes at home, and dived into the first day of Freshers Week 2010!