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Frolicking Freshers

Oct 07 2007 19:14

Ashley Brown

Freshers' week seems to have gone down well with the new starters, with the astonishing sight of people dancing in Beit Quad at 1am.

Global warming, courtesy of some bloke from Radio 1

This year's freshers appear to have had a terrific start to their time at Imperial, despite a number of problems throughout the week.

Freshers Arrive

Freshers move in

It seems the problems at Southside were not the only ones to befall halls of residence at the weekend. The team at Fisher Hall had a number of problems following its light refurbishment over the summer, including missing beds and wardrobes. Unlike at Southside no assistance was available from residences or the contractors responsible for the refurbishment, leaving the wardening team and re-apps to shift furniture themselves. Due to work finishing late the hall smelt strongly of paint fumes and certain showers were pouring water into the rooms below.

Freshers moving into Southside seemed pleased with their accomodation, although the parents seemed considerably more excited!

£12,500 worth of awning. Nice.

Students poured into the Union on Saturday evening by foot, coach, minibus and fire engine for The Mingle, with a variety of entertainments within the building and on the marquee outside. The event seemed a little quieter than in previous years, however this may have been a result of the extra space created by the marquee. The only criticism seemed to be of the music volume in the bars, which prevented 'mingling' in any form other than rubbing against each other, with conversations apparently banned except for those with megaphones in their handbags.

Freshers' Fair

Members of stoic tv were seen drooling over the BBC's outside broadcast van

Despite the threat of rain, freshers' fair was a huge success and stayed mostly dry. Imperial's 260+ clubs seemed to receive a huge amount of interest, with reams of paper full of email addresses being clutched by club chairs and secretaries. Queen's Tower tours raised money for RAG, while the fair went out live at lunchtime on BBC One.

Packed Quad

Beit Quad was full on most evenings throughout freshers week, with an intense schedule of events making full use of the marquee. The frightening sight of Imperial students dancing to popular music at 1am was a common one, with Friday's "Freshers' Ball" especially packed. The bars were doing a roaring trade, however the event highlighted the need for the redesign of bars and catering in the final phase of the masterplan: queues were 2 or 3 people deep along the length of every bar, with half of the space in da Vinci's shuttered as a result of catering being closed.

The marquee disappeared in the early hours of Saturday morning, however it looks like another re-turfing may be required.

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Discussion about “Frolicking Freshers”

The comments below are unmoderated submissions by Live! readers. The Editor accepts no liability for their content, nor for any offence caused by them. Any complaints should be directed to the Editor.

1. Spencer Smith

Oct 07 2007 22:59

But the Mingle was a bit chaotic though. People needed to queue up for too long at the bar to get their drinks, and there was a general lack of directions. A few friends of mine were thoroughly frustrated when they were not allowed to re-enter the Beit Quad after they went out to "cool down". Outside, there was a long long line of people waiting to enter presumably because the Beit Quad was too flooded with people. I can only guess that the people were equally disgruntled.

2. Ashley Brown

Oct 07 2007 23:03

Getting drinks is always a problem at these events - hence the need to turn the catering area into a bar
The hand stamp said quite clearly "no re-admission"
People were waiting outside because the venue as a whole was at full fire capacity

3. Spencer Smith

Oct 07 2007 23:24

It was stamped! I didn't read it, and certainly not my friends.

Either way, the Fresher's Fair appeared to be a great success, with a friend of mine joining 20+ clubs (not sure how she's going to cope though.) But again there was a general lack of directions. A number of people were unaware that the international clubs were located in the Great Hall, for example.

4. Grisman

Oct 08 2007 02:05

If only the bar staff knew the names of the drinks they were serving.... or that a single G&T does not come with a pint of tonic. Are there any experienced staff still working behind the bar?

5. si

Oct 13 2007 14:33

every single su in country has the same problem with new staff on their busiest week of the year, total respect to any freshers willing to work the bar in their freshers week, and to the second, thirs and fourth years training them on the job. The real time to judge is the christmas party. Remember many of these new staff will only just have turned 18, so haven't been drinking long let alone serving long, give them a chance.

6. hmmm

Oct 13 2007 15:47

And before anybody kicks in with the, all the people behind the bar are chinese rant... stop and think

Yes English isn't the first language of some of the bar staff, so yea asking for a G&T may be met with some confusion. Use your brain ask for a Gin with tonic water (would that actually kill you?) and be a bit patient.

You can't slag off overseas students in one thread for not integrating and then slag the ones off behind the bar who have chosen to be there to improve their English and meet new people... trust me they are not there for the money.

7. Grisman

Oct 18 2007 00:35

Did i mention the race of the member of staff involoved? I was merely pointing out that I ordered a very common and popular drink and the member of staff hadn't got a clue what I was asking for even when I did say gin with tonic. Whether this lack of knowledge is due to to having no knowledge of alcoholic drinks in general or lack of training is irrelevant, it's causing insanely long queues at the bars during peak times.

8. bad apple

Oct 19 2007 17:39

There is one idiot behind the bar at the moment. He's got a terrible attitude, is supercilious, rude and downright unhelpful. He also seems to think he's the king of the Union and prince of men because he works behind the bar.

At an event I helped run during the summer (which made a s**tload of money on the bar) he was serving a customer right in front of me (in dBs bar). There were only three or four people waiting. The lady who'd ordered turned away to speak to her boyfriend while she waited for her drink, and didn't hear this terrible barman saying "excuse me". Rather than tap her on the arm, he threw the change at her head.

When I asked him why he did it, he effectively told me to f**k off and flounced over to the other side of the bar.

They must be short on staff if that c**t is still allowed to work there.

9. blackthorn

Oct 20 2007 15:13

"There is one idiot behind the bar at the moment..." I stopped listening after such a stupid statement.

10. Sick of lazy bar staff

Oct 20 2007 15:13

All too often when you go there you have to put up with rude service. I understand that there are a lot of new staff, and it does get busy, but there is no excuse for downright rudeness and sarcasm from certain workers there. Is there any way we can complain about certain bar staff, or is that banned under the student staff protocol?

11. at blackthorn

Oct 20 2007 23:41

because there's more than one, or everyone is a competent and useful employee?

12. Operational Issue

Oct 21 2007 15:59

The person you need to speak to is the president. He then filters it down through the General Manager and so on and so on. You will then normally be given a standard "This is an operational issue, so go and f**k yourself" answer or if you are the lucky few you will just get banned from the bar all together because that is the "best" way to get rid of problems.

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