<p>So I'm a UK student coming over for a year and just wondering if your orientation week is equivalent to our freshers week, i.e. getting hammered for 7 days straight?? :P
I doubt it to be honest and have just been wondering what to expect...</p>
<p>Well we only had 2-day orientation and it was the summer before freshman year, but most have the same idea:</p>
<p>Orientation week is just about getting to know your new University/College. They show you around classes, where to eat, get to meet your fellow freshmen, etc.</p>
<p>I’m sure some kids party every night, just like in the UK.</p>
<p>my orientation week was getting hammered for a week straight. There were other activities to go to during the day like information sessions if you could make it to them, but most things weren’t required. At night there were some mandatory icebreaker before you could go out. Everybody did whatever they wanted and it was a good week.</p>
<p>One difference is that the drinking age here is a draconian 21, so people can’t really go out to bars and it can be a little difficult to get your hands on alcohol before the bulk of the over-21 students get there.</p>
<p>I had a one-week Orientation week and the school had all sorts of activities set up from 7:30AM-1 AM. Most of the stuff were optional but you had free time in between stuff also. Many people make their friends during this time and while they are in their dorms. I do know that many houses open up for parties and off-campus parties. The drinking age difference between the UK and US will be a killer for you though.</p>
<p>My college planned out a ton of activities for us for the whole week. A lot of them were mandatory, but a lot of them were optional. Some of them were “optional” in the sense that you weren’t formally penalized for not going to them, but that you would be stupid not to. Still, there was a ton of free time to do what you wanted.</p>
<p>Welcome Week on my campus is supposed to be dry - even if you’re 21, you’ll get in trouble if you’re caught on campus with alcohol during the first week. Of course, people partied anyway, but that was the official rule.</p>
<p>If you think that’s bad, I had to do orientation three times.
Freshmen, transfer Fordham, and transfer Columbia. </p>
<p>I eventually got to a point where I’d show up, check-in and ditch.</p>
<p>Uh, orientation at my first school was two days and since it was during the summer you couldn’t really get hammered since no upperclassmen were there to hold parties.</p>
<p>The first week of school though, that’s pretty wild.</p>
<p>Yeah…my school had a 2 day orientation in June, and we started school at the end of August. They did have a welcome week though the Saturday-Monday we first came.</p>