The Funky Great Big Oh My God I Live In London Post

*** Due to demand - here is the first post even before it's finished!
I guess it's going to take me ages to write up everything that's been going on, and of course the longer I leave it, the more it grows!
So basically this is Sat to Mon, and as soon as I can I will post the rest.
Forgive me for the randomness as there will be bits I forget and bits I remember later.
But, comments please... ***

Saturday

I got here atf about 3pm witoh my sister and CK and was shown to my room by the warden while CK and my sister unloaded the car, then CK and I moved my stuff to my room and unpacked while my sister went to park the car.
My room is so nice. I was impressed with the size of it as I was fearing it would be a box like the ones I saw at UCL.
I have a wall to wall window that views out into the centre of the halls and grass, and the the view from my Kitchen looks out onto the Royal Albert Hall.
After I was settled they both left and I went down to the common room to meet people and eat the free "dinner" (more like a snack) that the Halls provided. At about 8pm we went across to the union for "The Mingle" - the first ICU freshers event.
That was quite a good night and the five-odd older years guys who put on a breakdancing show were amazing. At one point, one of them slid across the floor on his head!
Before I came, I had already made friends with this Indian guy (J) on the same course and in the same halls and that was really comforting. It turned out his room is right next to mine.
He knew another girl (D) in our halls, and so the 3 of us, and a few other guys (R and L) formed a little posse.

Sunday

On Sunday morning I headed down to the common room for the free breakfast and to meet more people from my halls. Those guys were all still asleep. I got chatting with a few people including a Hall Senior - a 2nd year student.
After breakfast, I met up with J and after he ate we went over to the health centre to get registered, but I had to leave early to meet my sister, CK, my mum and CK's mum, and my dad who had all come to check out my pad, and drop off some extra essentials. I stayed with them till lunch and then said my good-byes and headed over to the campus centre for the Medics BBQ.
We were all given our ICSM 06 Freshers T-shirts which are so cool - its a green t-shirt based upon the iPod advert, with the black silhouette of a girl. But instead of the white headphones being attached to an iPod, they are attached to a stethoscope!
I then met up with the J and D and got chatting with the rest of the people they were with, including a few random others, asking the generic freshers questions - Course? Halls? Where from? and Name?
I started to notice here that J and D only talked to other Indian people, and that most of the Indian people there, were only integrating with themselves.
This made me feel a bit worried because I'd already clicked with this group, and so it was easier to hang with them rather than anyone else, but I didn't want to be stuck in a group like that, because I'm not like that, and frankly wouldnt feel comfortable there.
At about 3.30pm I headed back to the health centre to get my stuff sorted but the queue was so long that I ended up being there for 2 hours.
It was a great opportunity to meet other people though, and most of the medics had their t-shirts so that was an instant invite for conversation.

In the evening was the Pirates Boat Party. I didn't dress up, like a few others, but wish I had. Just for the looks we were getting on the tube to embankment. We were given shots on the way in which we had to down before we got on the boat, probably because they wanted to get people tipsy and knew most people weren't going to drink that much as the average price for a drink on the boat was £7!
The music was really good and for most of the night I was upstairs with J, D and L dancing (D isn't a medic but bought the Freshers Passport so got in to all the events).
Dancing on a boat moving down the Thames is an amazing experience, and it was the first time I was like wow, I live here!

Later in the night I went downstairs and got chatting to some other people, some from my halls and some from others, and I stayed there till the end of the night.
I met up with D again on the way out and she told me the her and J kissed. Hearing that was really upsetting, although I didn't know why, and I hid it well. J was waiting outside, and we got the tube back with a whole group of medics.

Monday

We had introductory lectures today. Starting at 9am. And during Fresher's week. How ridiculous.
They started off really well, with the lecturers introducing themselves and telling us how we were the "creme de le creme" of tomorrows doctors, the top 1% of medstudents, thanking us for choosing Imperial, and other ego-inflating flattery. Then it got scary. We were told that about 20% of the year (one in five!) will fail the summative exams and do resits, and then if those are failed, it's bye-bye Medical career!
We were also given heafty welcome packs with all our course matter and timetables and the like, then bought our scrubs and doctors coats before going off to register.
The Medics SU were also selling hoodies - the american style univeristy ones with "Imperial College Medic" on it. I so wish I got one, but didn't and now they've sold out of my size. Apparently the new design is much better though, and if not, the ICL ones are the same design.
I have to get one before I go home!

Monday night was the most fantastic event of my life so far - the Freshers Initiation Ceremony. J, D and I made our way to the Charing X hospital in Hammersmith (how confusing) along with all the other Medics, clad in our scrubs and freshers t-shirts. Upon arriving at the campus there we were split up into teams named after different sexual diseases (I had Crabs) which was good as it allowed everyone to mix (I was glad about this, especially to get away from J and D for a bit).
We played drinking games for the first hour, led by the 2nd years who were standing on tables, some with funnels and tubes, shouting things like, "Drink fresher! Drink!", and singing songs like, "We like to drink with freshers, 'cos freshers are our mates, they live for fornication, and never, never drink drink drink...."
The snakebite was flying everywhere, especially down our fronts.
After that each team got into a train, one behind the other, and we watched our "Welcome to ICSM" video, which dissed King's Medics heavily.
Following that the teams competed in drinking games on stage. At one point I was on stage with 4 other Crabs drinking beer out of an "Udder" (rubber glove, one finger each) attached to a funnel!
I wonder what my mum would have said had she seen.
Needless to say, we were soaked with snakebite, it was all over us, in our hair, everywhere.
And there were "Tequilla girls" going round pouring bottles down our throats.

After the games we were all partying and dancing. I felt a bit uncomfortable becuase J and D were dancing together and loads of other people were getting it on. I guess I felt a bit of a loser, like why them and not me? But I don't know.
Not even an hour later and I saw J on the way to the toilets with tears in his eyes - he was standing by the girls toilets and had L comforting him with SU people comforting him. D had drunk way to much and was so pale, throwing up in the toilets. He kept saying it was his fault, that he shouldn't have let her drink that much, and that he cared about her so much.
Personally I thought oh my god, calm down, she's just drunk too much. Nevertheless we took her outside with the help a few SU's where she sat down for a few minutes before being sick everywhere.
Then L, J, and I took her home, and J slept on her floor all night.
She was fine the next day, but the whole way back, and the next day I was still feeling uncomfortable and upset with their flirting. It just made me want to get away.

*** Tues coming as soon as possible - comments please - I know you must be itching to leave them, after waiting so long for the post! ***