Tuesday, January 03, 2006
On this day, I am officially a junior college student. Day 1 of orientation was a great success in my opinion. I was highly impressed by the way my seniors carried themselves, welcoming us into their big Hwa Chong family. While participating in the activities carefully planned out by the council, I can feel the great difference of maturity and togetherness displayed by my seniors as compared to the life we led in the high school section.
The day started off without much of a bang, but the element of fun picked up momentum as the schedule rolled on... By the time we were done with all the academic briefings and were assembled in the hall after lunch, it all then began to feel like an orientation. It was then that “I’ve Had The Time Of My Life” (Name of one out of many mass dances we learnt today) since my primary school days. No matter how hard I tried to find another reason for all this refreshing feelings and experiences, nothing came up. Yes, it was because there were girls around.
Other than the mundane but necessary academic briefings which were basically to introduce us to the syllabus of each subject, the rest of the day was broken down to mainly four portions – icebreakers, dancing, singing and cheering.
Icebreakers wasn’t that successful as the modification of “Whacko” my orientation group leader Mindy decided to let us play didn’t really let us have a chance to get to know each other well, although I must admit that it did break the ice. The name of the modified version was called “Husbands and Wives”. Rather than going around “whacking” others while trying to remember their names, this modification is a comparatively less energetic game. At first, the girls were made to stand behind the boys and the boy sitting in front of each girl is her “husband”. At first, there would be Mindy without a “husband”. So she would call out names of the boys while the girls have to tap the boys before they can walk to Mindy. Later, the boys then had to tap the girls who had their names called out, before they had a chance to walk away. Although it wasn’t a very successful modification as there was much cheating involved such as finding out the name of the person in front of you first, the hilarious mistakes brought about much giggling and laughter which made the game a successful icebreaker.
After that, we gathered at the hall for the days climax – dancing, singing and cheering. These sessions were basically for us to learn the Hwa Chong mass dances, songs and cheers for frequent use in the activities throughout our two years there. I found the dancing most entertaining as seeing the whole hall move together in one fluid motion was just too satisfying. Furthermore, some of the many mass dances required us to find partners of the opposite gender. With well choreographed dance movements passed on from many years ago from the rich tradition of Hwa Chong, we all had a great time with our partners. For me, I loved the feeling of dancing with someone else, laughing at each other when either of us made a mistake, at the same time also consoled that everyone else is going through the same thing.
What a way to start off day 1 of orientation 2006! I really look forward to the two whole weeks of healthy fun and thank the council for all their efforts. From today’s experience, my urge to join the Music & Dance Society is getting stronger and I hope it would be a choice I will not regret.
I feel so shagged now. Although day 2 is mainly academic according to the programme booklet, I guess should go to bed early. I’m hoping that the people from the rest of the junior colleges who are having their orientations enjoy loads and loads of fun too!
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