BASS: UNSW ORIENTATION WEEK

Allo allo, g'day to all of you. Well, as some of you might know, 'some' people had to miss o-week for reasons which I shall not disscuss. *cough* lazy bums *cough*. Well, fortunately for you guys, I'm here to rub the fantabulous UNSW orientation week in your faces. hahaha, as an act of pure joblessness, I am covering each day Orientation week, to show you what some of you are missing and hopefully suffer and be tormented with envy and guilt for coming back so late! This is sorta amateurish and spontaneous post, hee, enjooy.

ORIENTATION WEEK 2008 Diary,
MONDAY day 1.

Set my alarm at 7, got up at 9, thanks to excellent timing of an inprompt to text message. I was planning to head to UNI by 9 or 10 so that I can get some of the FREE PANCAKES they were serving in the morning. Rushed a shower, put on some light clothing (it was hot~ 21 degrees, weathers been a tad inconsistant these past few days, so dont expect to see the sunny skies when you are here), and grabbed my bag before leaving Hafiz's place and heading towards UNI. I planned to drag the guys, but as usual, Hafiz was being his usual lazy self, didn't want to disturb his 'precious' beauty sleep (he needs all the sleep he can get) and Asqa was already eating a 'OMG' delicious breakfast of Instant Noodles *gasps*.

OMG, people! There like freakin everywhere!!!

Walking through 'the walk' (izzat what its called, I forget) with the big crowds, booths, yellow shirts, bewildered first years is just awesome. The UNI was virtually empty before this and there is so many things to do and see here. It was around ten when I reached there, so I rushed up to Matthews to meet up my Malaysian friend Tiya who was helping her juniours get their student IDs (As Waznah mentioned, Espot is no longer at red center, its at Matthews) . A few minutes of walking, and a handful of club brochures later, I reached Matthews Theatre in UPPER campus. Remember the renovation they were doing there before summer holidays, well they finished it, WE HAVE A NEW FOOD COURT, WOOHOOO! Indian food, Sushi and more, all at Matthews with proper sitting areas with tables. I didn't take pictures, I forgot, so I'll post it up tomorrow for you to see.

Queue for the student id cards

Yup, those are the queues for the student id. SO freaaaakin looong. I planned to do it since Tiya and her juniours were there, but after seeing that line, ugh, decided to do it later in the week. Went and met up my Bangladeshian Australian Friend Niloy, who was trying to find out if there were any Civil Engineering specific lectures, labs or activities that were compulsory to attend during Oweek. Btw, still no word from Jennifer, I'll scower the net again to update you guys with more info on the PetENg Oweek lecs or labs.

Dragged him to get pancakes with me near the roundhouse. Otw there, we passed the beer lawn (between Scientia and red center). Seems like some half-naked buff guys were dancing there.

Why were there half Naked Buff Guys dancing near the Beer Lawn located between the Scientia Building and Red Center while Niloy and I were otw to get pancakes near the roundhouse? I didn't have a clue. This is orientation week, expect the unexpected. hahahah. Btw, these guys were buff, i mean REALLY BUFF huge muscles and all that crap. Its not those freaky monstor freak of nature muscles, it like those male models who advertise for underwear. Just looking at these guys lowers yur self esteem dramatically. hahahah, I need to join a gym this year.

Passing by more stalls and booths, more people stuffing brochures and pamphlets into my hands, reached the pancake queue. It was not that long, but we had to wait a bit. A few minutes of idle talking and enjoying the sights of the cooks accidentally overcooking and burning the pancakes and trying to amusingly convince some of the people in queue to get this burnt pancakes by asking 'who likes their pancakes extra black?', Niloy and I were approached by some blue/yellow shirts (I had temporary colour memory loss at that moment) who were promoting ARC memberships.

It was an asian guy and girl. The guy spoke first, well...he tried to. He was okay the first few sentences and suddenly lost track and forgot what he wanted to say. Reasons for this, as I thought at that moment, could either be that, I was very intimidating or this guy was new at this job, and as it turned out, it was the latter of the two. He smiled timidly and apologized, and let the girl speak. Showing off her experience, she went through almost everything about ARC membership at UNSW, its privelages and so forth. Heres a sum of it:

You get a welcome pack (Arc Backpack, 2GB USB stick, Wall Planner, Other Campus Essentials)
Club VIP membership (Discounts for off camping clothing, clubs and Sydney Events
Discounts at Arc Stores (up to 40% off selected merchanise and 'Green Splat' Specials
ARC Club MemberShip (Join clubs free of administration costs from Arc)
ARC Room Hire (Free Discounted rates for music, meeting and general purpose rooms)
UniBar Discounts (Member Specials and Happy Hours Throughout the year)
Free Roundhouse session parties all year (Free/discounted admission to ARC activities and Events
Work and Lifeskills Courses (Discounted rates + training program & certificate of participation for each course)
Graduation Dress Hire Discounts (Discounts on Academic dress hire and purchase)
ARC Board and Representive Council Elections (Eligible to run for Board and Rep Council positions and vote in elections)
Volunteer Programs (Join student development and volunteer programs and gain valuable experience)
Computer Labs (Free Computer Use in any ARC Computer Labs)
KUDOs Gallery @ COFA (Significant Hire discounts and free support)
Free Legal Advice and Advocacy (ARC Lawyer and Student Support)
UNSW Bookshop Discounts (Special Member only deals)
Cheap Movie Tickets (Buy cheap tickets for range of cinemas)
Member Diary with Vouchers (You can only get the vouchers if you're an ARC member)

Arent you amazed with my memory skills? Hehe, the fact that she handed me a brochure after our conversation helped alittle I guess. Anyways, memberships is $149 for 1year, $280 for 2years, $380 for 3years & $450 for 4years. I'm joining this year btw, anybody else? *wink*

After our conversation with the ARC promoters, and wishing the new guy goodluck, I finally got my pancakes. They were out of plates so I had to use napkins. O-week pancakes are a tad different from your typical pancakes. They're square and burnt and made with love by the ARC Yellow Shirts. The tall blond yellow shirt pretty causcasian girl (this....I remember) was handling the condiments. I asked for Maple Syrup, she recommended to opt for something else, as her syrup was too runny *snort*, so I had this sort of jam on my pancakes, which flavour seems to escape my memory yet again, it was a pink-red goo. Don't have pictures again, sorry, was too hungry at the time.

After gulping down the pancakes, Niloy and I hung out near the Sports and Recreation section of the Oweek booths. Its located in front of the ISS building/centre. There was an ANZ booth nearby along with a Dance Hip-hop club booth.

ANZ BOOTH -What is the heck is that guy doing? ANZ have this sort of box where the willing participants enter and try to grab as much little strips of paper which are blown up into the air by a wind machine in a period of 10-20 seconds. Whats the point? Well, each strip of paper is worth AUD$1. An earlier participant walked of with $65. Free money for climbing into a box and goofilly trying to grab strips of paper as quick as possible in front of hordes of onlookers....excellent.

HIP HOP DANCE BOOTH - Put your hands up in the aiiir, shake em like you just don't careeee! Freee demonstration for interested hip hop dancers.

After watching some people almost break their necks for attempting a headstand, I called Hafiz and Asqa to join me since it was around 12. Niloy had to go to work at 1 and I didnt want to be abandoned here. Thanks to my excellent negotiating skills, I got them to come (this sounds really weird right Yamin? *wink*).

Hung out in front of the Newton Building lawn and waited for them there, and where we discovered the ISSOC booth and the Saudi Booth.

Random Malaysian(?) Girl and Fatimah/Padme (not quite sure) in charge of ISSOC membership registration.

Saad Alaasi with his 'cool' hairstyle, helping out with the Saudi society booth

Hafiz joined soon after, and as we were waiting for Asqa, we were approached by a yellow shirt asking us if she could paint our faces. After some coaxing from Hafiz, and since the others seemed soooo reluctant, I volunteered my precious face for painting. What did i choose? Well, I opted for the first thing that came out of my head ~ spiderman!!!

SPIDERMAN ROCKSS!!!!

Facepainting, all in good fun. The girl was a bit worried at first, cause she never did spiderman before (*snort*), but it came out alright in the end. Hahah, I wanted the other guys to have their face painted, but guess they couldnt bare people staring at them. It was a bit weird having everybody turn and stare at you but you get used to it. Being called spiderman everytime you walk by is kinda cool *swells with pride*.

Asqa joined up eventually and toured the walk and tried to visit as much booths as we can. Asqa and Hafiz signed up for soccer tryouts while I scoped the diving and outdoors club booth. Many many clubs to look at, couldn't cover all of them properly in one day. Along the UNI walk, there are many activities to do and free stuff to get.

queueing up for....

...FREE COTTON CANDYYYYYY

Its that delicious! Don't believe me, notice Asqa's face? looks like he's gonna 'burst' with excitement *wink* 'it is very tasting of gooooodnesss'

I'm going to cut this post short for now, it looks like I sorta overdid it. It's a day overdue already. hahah, expect a post of Juniours First Day Experience sometime tomorrow and further Oweek coverages later in the week. Will leave you guys with pics I took on Monday. Goodbye for now, cheeers.

Live Bands at Beer Garden

Juggling training from circusoc. Run away from home, to go to Uni and join the circus!

Old Friends - Malaysian 2nd years. The three people on the right are sooo 'coool', especially the guy in the center. Like OMG.

Get your free Arab Guy, comes with his own Turban, headscarf thingy. heheh, kidding, dress up in traditional Arab clothing at the Saudi Society Booth.