Full Itinerary

Freshers’ Week 2009: Full Itinerary

Saturday 3^rd

Now you guys should all be arriving from around 10am this morning and I imagine it’ll be an early start and fairly long trip for most of you but worry not. When you arrive my happy, smiley team of dedicated, professional Reps will be around both the Bailey site and Parsons Field to make sure you’re moving in as painless as is possible, guiding you to your room and carrying your luggage for you – this is how we do things at Cuth’s! There will then be a welcome buffet from 2-4pm to give you the opportunity to meet the Principal and College Mentors. Hopefully across the afternoon the posters will be hung, the speakers plugged in and the unpacking process should be complete. Dinner is on as normal for those on the meals package / full board. Following this, the Ents themselves truly begin from 8pm. Tonight we’re throwing you in at the deep end by adopting a Cuth’s theme. This basically means wearing anything green you can get your hands on (clothing, accessories, body paint etc.) and the night should give you an idea of how we like to do things as well as giving you a chance to get a hold on the songs we like to boom out down at Cuth’s.

Sunday 4^th

Having hopefully settled in, today will be one of the busiest and hopefully one of the best days of your week. The day will start early for those of you that want to come on the paintball trip (order forms enclosed – or online at cuths.com). I went paintballing myself last year and had a great day, even if I was nursing a slight hangover. For those of you that stick around, enjoy a lie in, my reps and I will be around over lunch and then we will be holding our Freshers Fair in the afternoon from around 2 o’clock in the dining hall. This will be your chance to learn all about the clubs and societies we have in Cuths and get you signed up for the ones that interest you.

This will all be in preparation for the infamous Cuth’s Toga Party in the evening where we will be having games and inflatables galore, plenty of bed sheets hastily safety pinned together and a chance to show off any impressive bruises from the paintball. Afterwards we are heading to Loveshack, which we will be sharing with Hatfield, our biggest rival college, so there’s even more reason to get those songs learnt on night one.

Monday 5^th

University life starts on the more official front today with the opening of module registration. This is a two part process that gets you registered for your degree. Enrolment takes place online through DUO (you should have completed this before you arrive – Make sure you have completed it at least by the Sunday before freshers’ week!). Registration itself requires collecting your campus card and module registration form from College Staff, trekking over to your department(s) and getting the form signed. Again, more details when you arrive! This is not to say any of our events will be lessening off. We have decided to organise some trips around Durham for you today, mainly to show you the useful places that you otherwise may not hear about. The route will cover most of the city, showing you the best bars, restaurants, cafes and little shops that can sometimes be a bit hidden but will certainly come in useful over the year. We will be running 5 trips across the day, lead by myself and my head reps, and it will basically be a case of turn up and come along. All trips will start at the Bailey Bar and finish up in Brooks for a beverage or two and the legendary Chocolate tasting afternoon. This will take place in Brooks JCR from 12:00-3:00pm. This will again lead on to a fantastic evening, where tonight the Principal will be hosting the first of two welcome formals. (6 for 6:30pm – Bailey JCR) Tonight’s theme is a masquerade ball so dress code is black tie (if you have one, lounge suit if not) and ball style dresses, find yourselves a mask and come along to enjoy a great meal followed by a full ball in our bar. Even if you don’t feel like attending the dinner I’d still advise adopting the theme, as I’m sure it’ll be a great night to be had by all. We will then be heading on to Cuth’s favourite club, the infamous Klute, to finish off the masked revelry.

Tuesday 6^th

Tuesday daytime is when we will be letting you do your own things and make sure you attend medical registration (2:30 – 5:30pm Brooks JCR). This get you signed on at University Health Centre which will come in handy if you are ever feeling under the weather! Myself and plenty of my reps should be around on both sites if you require any assistance or just fancy a drink and a chat. Tuesday night is the second welcome formal and this will be a more casual evening. The dress code is lounge suits and dresses and the general theme for the night is ‘dress to impress’. By this we basically mean get yourselves dressed up as you would, in whatever you’re most comfortable in, at home for going out. Enjoy a easy night with no fuss as we continue the party in the Bailey bar before heading on to what will become a regular Studio Tuesday.

Wednesday 7^th

Wednesday is a true test of your student credentials as it involves an early morning, getting yourself up and formally dressed (lounge suits / equivalent ) for your matriculation in the Cathedral. You will be escorted down by a team of reps, so don’t worry about finding you way etc! This will then be followed by a few shortish talks regarding the health and safety aspects of Uni life and then we will head back to the Bailey for the Freshers Photo, an event certainly worth the early morning to make sure your all looking your best. On Wednesday evening we are shifting through the party gears and will be hosting a UV rave and silent disco. So don the neon gear, the glowsticks and UV paint, get down to the Bailey from 8pm and enjoy the UV glows, the silent disco and the annual DJ mix-off. Following on from this we’ve got Loft to ourselves tonight and the rave shall continue long into the night.

Thursday 8^th

Now I’m afraid to say that some of you may have your first lectures to attend today, so we have a night off scheduled in here. We will be having some more chilled things going on though, including a bit of live acoustic music on the Bailey and a Nintendo Wii Tournament evening over at Brooks, but other than this, tonight is your chance to recover and catch up on some sleep before the big final weekend or continue to party amongst yourselves if you so wish.

Friday 9^th

Friday may again involve lectures for a few of you, so we’ve no specific events planned for the day. Friday night however, we will be commencing the party again. The theme for tonight is ‘Around the World’. For this, the idea is to dress up as a country of your choice and this could be anything from where you went on your gap year, to a country of your heritage or even just a chance to wear the dodgy sombrero you brought back from that Spanish summer holiday. Meeting in the bar for more freshers’ week centred frivolity, tickets to the DSU’s weekly club night will be available and I highly recommend getting your hands on one as it’s sure to be yet another event not to be missed.

Saturday 10^th

Now we may be approaching the end of Freshers’ Week but we’re intending on seeing things out with a bang! The night will begin again down on the Bailey, this time with a Full Moon Beach Party theme, a theme we used last year but which is my opinion was by far and away the best night. Come down complete with your board shorts, bikinis and questionable flowery shirts to enjoy a whole range of inflatable fun, games and general shenanigans and then a fantastic fireworks display to close the party out! After this we will be heading back to Studio as they will be hosting the single best night across the University for Freshers. But we’re going there with a few privileges. For tonight, Cuth’s is VIP! We have our own area within Studio stacked full of hot tubs and champagne so that tonight will hopefully be the best night of a fantastic week!

Sunday 11^th

Now as your first full week of Uni life starts tomorrow, all we have planned for today is a BBQ over at Parsons Field and a turn-up-and-play sports day, which should hopefully give you all a chance to maybe try a new sport or just give you and idea of how we like to do things on the pitch at Cuths.

Summary

Saturday: Arrive, unpack, Principal’s Welcome Buffet (meet College Mentors) for you and parents (2-4pm), Dinner, ‘Cuths’ Theme Night
Sunday: Paintball (8:45am meet at Bailey and Parsons JCRs), Freshers Fair (2-4pm), Toga Party, Loveshack
Monday: Module Registration all day, Tours (11am, 12:30pm, 2pm, 3:30pm and 5pm), Chocolate Tasting 12:00-3:00pm Brooks JCR, Masquerade Ball, Klute
Tuesday: Medical registration (2:30-5:30pm Brooks JCR), ‘dress to impress’ formal, Studio
Wednesday: Matriculation (7:45am wake up calls), important talks, Freshers photo, recover, nap, UV rave and Silent Disco, Loft
Thursday: Maybe start of lectures, acoustic and comedy night, Wii tournaments
Friday: ‘Around the World’ theme, DSU club night
Saturday: Full Moon Beach Party, fireworks (10:30pm), Studio VIP
Sunday: BBQ and sports day (1pm start)