by Timothy Chen
Edited by Ho Yi Jian
Published: October 18, 2006

I was terribly excited about coming to NUS, having built up an image of what on campus living would be like in my mind. I imagined a lot of wild partying, hooking up with random people, and various other scandalous activities. The lack of parental supervision was another thing I was definitely looking forward to. I haven’t quite experienced all that in TH yet but there have been several events worth mentioning.

The first thing that struck me was that I actually enjoyed orientation. I thought it was well organized, the activities were fun but most importantly there was something about the whole thing that made you genuinely want to get involved. I was one of those guys hiding in the back at the mass dance session in JC. I never was one of those, crazy-about-mass-dance, cheer-till-I’m-hoarse, play games-till-I-pop-a-shoulder kinda guy. Still… I enjoyed it. Immensely.

Speaking of spirit, another significant event I experience as a freshman would be RAG day. I had heard about this somewhat mythical event that seemed so steeped in tradition it was actually somewhat frightening. Like how my mum, having met my dad in another hall some 20 odd years ago, gets this glazed look in her eye when she tells me about how she acted in her hall rag float on recycling cans. This is in painful detail by the way. Quite unnerving.

Actually being there this year, I finally got a good sense of what all the fuss was about: the floats; the costumes; the panicky sweaty rag team members cursing and swearing, who look at onlookers with murderous intent. It really is quite overwhelming to be in the presence of something that has established itself as a grand tradition, something bigger than the individuals and the thousands of recycled sprite cans. Being there, I could understand how this one calendar event can become an institution capable of sweeping typically mellow people into screaming, crying fanatics.

Obviously the most substantial part of my hall life so far would have to be the actual hall living aspect. The proximity to classes is definitely a plus, despite the fact that I seem to have started selective attendance lately. But the sense of ‘neighborhood’ is something I appreciate more. I’m enjoying the fact that I now have friends literally living right next door. In contrast, I’ve lived in my house for as long as I can remember and I have never spoken to my neighbors. Not even when Mark Richmond was living next door. There’s also the attachment you develop to a room that you’ve furnished somewhat from scratch. Granted, there’s not a lot you can do with that tiny hole in the wall, but at the end of the day its my own little hole in the wall and I’m loving it.

Looking back at the past two months I realize that there have been a few milestone events like Orientation and Rag, which were great in themselves, but I realize the day to day living is really significant too. So much so that I feel as if I’ve known my friends here for a lot longer than just two months, and it’s the fact that I’m surrounded by all these great people leaves me optimistic about living here. My university life might turn out to be quite fulfilling after all.