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Never mind the group activities involving the awkward O-Groups, the tearful goodbyes between families and incoming freshmen, and the awkward exchange of glances during “Sex Signals” and “Are You Invincible?” The unifying events that gave freshmen a slightly bittersweet taste of college were unquestionably the nighttime socials. The socials, which included the Carnival, Square Dance, and the VIP Social were similar to a hyped up version of high school dances. They made me ask myself, “What is going on right now?!”– sometimes in a genuinely confused tone, and at other times, in an awkwardly critical tone. The night socials were embarrassing and awkward, but ultimately, I have to admit that these silly events bonded all the freshmen.
The socials put the freshmen in an uncomfortable position, and we were flustered. The socials were chances for all the first-years to gather with each other without their O-Groups, and it was obvious that no one could tell where to group themselves; people asked themselves at the Carnival, “Should I go to the bounce house, request a song from the DJ, avoid all contact with people I have no connections with, or should I just stop being self-conscious?”
The functions made people initiate inelegant and common chit-chat. Plain and simple, no one knew what to do, and I might as well have played the same audio recording every time I met a new person at any of the night events since my most popular ice breaker seemed to be, “Hi, I’m Jill Marucut. I’m from South Pasadena-ha, I know, only five minutes away from here. Where are you from? Nice. Oh, yeah, I guess I might as well go home every single day to do laundry. (Insert awkward laugh here.)” Oh, and to switch it up a bit, “Hi, what dorm do you live in? Nice.” After exchanging small talk, students then resorted to pretending that they had a solid group of friends to come back to, and that was just not the truth.
However, the events bonded us because we were ALL embarrassed. Our group imitation of the slide and the square dance made me realize how stoked I was to know everyone better. Whereas the Carnival event separated people by encouraging everyone to either play games, jump in the bounce house, dance by the DJ, eat popcorn or sit around and talk, the Square Dance forced everyone to make a fool out of themselves-and yet, we did it all so willingly. To see everyone in sync, or at least see people try to be in sync, from the ballet dancers out there to the ones with two left feet, I had way too good of a time.
We even bonded over liking the same embarrassing song-the “Cha Cha Slide. “And of course, when the DJ played the song, nothing spelled out unity like that ever popular disco hit. Practically everyone threw their hands in the “urr” like they just don’t “curr” when they heard the introduction.
As a class, we created a hot mess at the dances-which ironically brought us together. When the DJ spun typical party songs like the E. 40 jam, “Tell Me When to Go,” and other Top 40 tracks, everyone was extremely uninhibited, and the last thing you wanted to do was crush an intimidating hyphy circle.
We even unified when we all realized that we thrived off disorder. Chaos was at its highest when all you could see were cha-cha trains at the VIP Social (big clusters of people towards the middle of the dance floor where not even the tallest person could be seen).
Though there was much confusion, chaos and surprises, the night socials made O-Week the best kick-off to the school year. They were crowd pleasers that made all the first-years greedy for more Friday night plans. Class of 2014, here’s my final word: I know that we’re in for the best four years of our lives, so live up every Friday night like it’s a VIP Social or even a Square Dance Hoe Down.
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