Maybe by now you’ve already been to an Eclectic show, sat in on three awe-inspiring classes, bonded with everyone on your host’s hall, and gotten what we MoCon diners fondly call “The Moces.”
But maybe you haven’t. Maybe you need a little guidance. Having not gone to WesFest myself, I conducted a highly unprofessional journalistic survey (read: e-mailed my friends) to get some advice from people who survived WesFest and made it here intact and still in love with Wesleyan.
Rule #1: Get away from your parents. No offense, wonderful and patient parents who drove/flew with everyone here, but it’s very difficult to navigate dorm life when the residents there are seeing their first person over 30 outside of a classroom in weeks.
“If your parents came with you, you’ll make no friends with them present,” said Joe John Sanchez ’07. “Unless your parents are the kind of people who would enjoy sleeping on Foss Hill and swapping sexual histories or stories about how you totally weren’t popular in middle school.”
None of us here were popular in middle school- that’s the secret. That’s why there’s a B’nai Mitzvah this weekend—no one was invited the first time around. Which brings me to rule #2: don’t be afraid that everyone is cooler than you.
“Don’t be scared to talk to anyone you see,” Sanchez said. “A big mistake a lot of people make is checking out the scene for people who also look like prefrosh. A little awkwardness can go a long way.”
If you come here, you’ll discover the wonderful orientation week phenomenon of being able to sit down with anyone and talk to anyone, with the age-old “Where are you from? Where do you live on campus?” questions to start any conversation. It happens during WesFest, too. Half the campus is volunteering in some way to be part of WesFest, and the other half probably wants to talk to you too.
“I think that its not just the kids who are organizing WesFest who are cheerleaders for this school,” said WesFest intern Kate Brown ’06. “We’re all cheerleaders for what we’re passionate about.”
OK, let’s assume you’ve started a conversation, you’ve succeeded, you’ve started the I’m-only-here-for-the-weekend-it’s-time-to-take-action flirtation, and… now what? First of all, maybe take it slow.
“Steer clear of hook-ups,” said Holly Wood ’08. “You never know if that girl you make out with on Saturday turns out to be your next-door neighbor in Clark in September.”
Yes, Queer Prom is on Friday, and yes, Wesleyan students are impossibly gorgeous, but there’s also other kinds of friends to make while you’re here.
“Making friends with fellow frosh and upperclassmen alike over the summer will make the sheer chaos of orientation week a little more bearable,” Wood said.
Armed with that giant packet of information and that hugely overwhelming schedule, how can you possibly figure out what to do? Well, it’s easy—do everything.
“Don’t just go to classes and go to information sessions, but seek out stuff you’re interested in,” Brown said. “That kind of stuff is more important or as important as what you do while you’re in class.”
“Do everything,” said Joanna Kenty ’08. “Just cram it all in there. See and meet people, learn lots of things about Wes and experience the life in general as much as can be expected in one weekend.”
So, think of it this way. Whether you meet your best friends here, leave a day early because you’re too overwhelmed, or don’t wind up at Wesleyan at all, at the very least you’ll have had a great weekend. Happy WesFest!
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