Just had Freshmen Orientation Camp (FOC) over the whole of last week. I must say, participating in FOC as a senior instead of a freshie is an entirely different experience altogether. Here's a day by day account of such a memorable experience:
Day 1: Ice Breakers.
Was pleasantly surprised at the attendance to our FOC. I can still remember clearly that on the very first day of my FOC as a freshmen, there were only 4 people in my OG. lol~ It was so sad. I was half expecting the attendance to be the same this year, but to my relief, it turned out to be quite a crowd. Ice Breakers were fun, the freshies were pretty enthusiastic and they turned out to be a decent bunch of guys & gals. It was pretty amusing to sit behind watching the GLs trying to talk to the freshmen, desperately trying to break the ice.
Day 2: War Games & Team Fortress.
War Games. Some of the seniors woke up as early as 5am in the morning to prepare for the event: mud bombs, game stations and other logistic matters. Things went smoothly and very soon, the freshies were splashing mud at each other as mud bombs rained on them mercilessly. lol~ I wasn't involved in the splashing, just running around with my camera (as a 护身符) taking pictures of everyone. We created quite a mess and we spent hours and hours that afternoon cleaning the damn tarpaulin sheets. Oh my aching forearms... =(
Team Fortress. Held after dinner, seniors went to set up stations (& feed the blood-thirsty mosquitoes) and load up their paint bombs. Pandemonium ensued as seniors chased freshies all over the campus while they were looking for clues. I always wanted to be one of the cops since my FOC, but alas, I had my responsibilities as part of the organising sub-committee. So I just sat there, feeding mosquitoes. *sulk*
Day 3: Childhood Games, Water Carnival, Monster Hunt.
Finally I could join the freshies again, FOC is no fun when you're always away from the freshmen preparing for events. The freshies had childhood games in the morning, games included musical chairs, obstacle courses, bomberman... The weather turned on us with light drizzles on and off, threatening to spoil our fun, but spirits were still held high as the freshies played on. I noticed an amusing trend, the guy freshies could play five stones better than the girls. lol~ Maybe its a generation gap thing. I feel old. Didn't go for the water carnival as we had to prepare for monster hunt that night.
Organising Monster Hunt was a huge challenge. We had a hard time thinking of scary ideas and begging seniors to come back to help us as actors, some who decided to fly our aeroplane at the last minute. Tsk~. We have planned and worked our fingers to the bone for the past few months just for this night, The Night of Nights. That afternoon, we were all tensed and stressed to the max as we began the final preparations, the last burst of fire. Not all seniors were cooperative and we had a few stressful moments when we started to fall behind schedule with the make-up of the casts.
Ultimately, we were late by about an hour. We pushed the cast out to their locations and I followed my cast of 6 to our location, Road to Hell. This station has been my brain child for the past few months: thinking of all possible scare factors, creating sound tracks, preparing relevant props... I was station master and it was rather gratifying to see some seniors who have already graduated coming back specially just to support us. Their words of encouragement really makes one feel appreciated and all that we have done worth it.
I personally feel that Monster Hunt, and especially Road to Hell, was a success. I would like to seize the opportunity to thank my actors and actresses, for tolerating my unreasonable standards, for the long tiring hours of waiting, make-up and acting, and putting in their 110% into their roles. In no particular order: Thank you Kewei, Wei Ching, Zi Wei, Daniel, Siyi & Keng. Without your efforts, Road to Hell wouldn't be possible.At the end of The Night of Nights, we all had a clear sense of accomplishment as we packed up till the wee hours of the next morning, finally having overcome the challenge placed in front of us.
Day 4: Mini Olympiads, Amazing Race.
We woke up after around 3 hours of sleep to prepare for my sub-committee's final event, Mini Olympiads. Took me about 1 hot coffee & 2 cold ones to wake up properly. Jiajun & I were placed in charge of Couple Captains' Ball & Dodge Ball. We had fun umpiring the games, the freshmen were really competitive and I hope that they've all managed to have their share of fun. Winning isn't everything, its the experience. lol~
Amazing Race was physically draining. Our OG didn't have the best of luck as they started the race, having gotten a lousy route by bus and the next moment forced to take a time-consuming detour. I was feelin rather happy that morning as all our sub-comm responsibilities are over and it was time for us to spend some quality time with the freshmen, but somewhere along the way, close to evening, the tiredness starting seeping into my eyes and the seniors started to feel the strain as the freshmen raced on.
We made stops at Chinese Gardens, Sentosa, Little India, Maxwell Market, JEC Kbox... I must say... our freshies are really enthusiastic and they seem to have limitless amount of energy as they persevered on to the very end. Even though they crossed the finish line last, they were still full of pride and enjoyed every moment of the race. That's the way freshies. We're proud of you guys.
Day 5: Beach Games, SP Nite.
We headed to Sentosa again early this morning where we had 3 hours of beach games. Which means a thorough sun-burning session for yours truly. *ouch* The freshies were rolled around in the sand, played a fruity version of touch rugby and rescued their "marooned" GLs from a "deserted island". Could tell the freshies had fun as they chomped down on a 加料-ed sandwich. Gross. lol~
SP Nite, held in the evening, freshie guys were paired randomly with freshie gals and they had to walk around, doing forfeits together and ultimately ended up at a beach side bar for dinner. I thought the programs for the night could be better as there were moments when I felt that the freshies were getting bored. Although we did have a better location than last years', I thought that the programmers didn't do justice to the better opportunity offered them. Such a waste. But nevertheless, the freshies seemed to enjoy themselves as they partied away to Mambo and R&B.
That night, our OG carried out the tradition of seniors playing social games with juniors. I believe that it helps the freshies and seniors to bond closer together. We didn't play any drinking games as there wasn't any decent water supply at the Southern most point of Asia, so we played traffic light and "shoot, shag & marry". Just like we did last year. It was fun, but we stopped halfway as the seniors were really feeling the shag-ness and we sort of just fell asleep. lol~ must make sure we play it properly next year.
Day 6: OG Outing, Initiation Run.
Hmm~ woke up with a backache from sleeping on planks. *ouch* After a freezing morning shower and breakfast, our OG decided to shoot some pool at JEC. After which, all of us went back to school to prepare for the Initiation Run.
In the evening, the freshies were initiated and officially welcomed into Hall 3, becoming true 3-ians. They ran a distance of 3km, completing tasks and overcoming all obstacles the seniors could throw in their way without the slightest complain. The completed their initiation with pride and passion, which makes us seniors proud. A job well done freshies! *applause*
We broke camp that night around a camp fire, singing, dancing & cheering.
I feel that FOC'07 has been a success, even though there were a lot of misunderstandings and conflicts among the seniors, unseen to the eyes of freshies. The efforts and sacrifices of all the seniors were worth it as long as our freshies enjoyed themselves. Cheers to the FOC'07 team. Next major event... D&D'07.
Stay tuned~ =_=
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