Why you shouldn’t miss O-Week 2018
WORDS BY ANDIE WITTENOOM
TLDR: come to O-Week, you’ll get heaps of free stuff and good times galore.
Prepare yourselves students of USYD, O-Week is coming for you and it’s bigger and better than ever. But how are they going to top Shannon Noll’s ripper of a surprise performancecirca 2016?
I had a chat to festival directors Jenna Schrodes and Anja Bless to find out what the months of preparation have led to - and put simply, it’s a lot of free stuff.
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New additions:
Access Alley: for access members, this year seems to herald the best of perks. For the first year, there is free breakfast and lunch on all days, as well as the past crowd favourites such as free coffee and popcorn. Access Alley is one of the new attractions this year with the Law Lawns being transformed into a “carnival wonderland” with circus performers and workshops, and instagrammable swings.
Arvo sesh: The ticketed band night has been culled and replaced with a killer Thursday afternoon sesh at Hermann’s featuring Alex the Astronaut, beer trucks, a smoker dishing out brisket and vegetarian options — think chilled festy vibes without the expensive ticket prices, lack of unusable toilets and kilometre long queues for food and drinks.
Source: USU
O’Week film festival: For all three-nights of O-Week there will be an all ages film festival at Courtyard featuring a Jumanji (1995), Aladdin and the Rocky Horror picture show.
Nutella (!!!!). Nutella is attempting to break a world record for its spreadable goodness on a number of pancakes, so get ready to indulge in hazelnut goodness.
Old favourites:
Access bags: Returning after their brief vacay in 2017, the access bags have been designed this year to avoid waste. Instead of being dumped with a whole heap of crap you won’t use, you’ll be able to pick and choose what items you’d like out of convenient buckets.
Parties: International or exchange student? A Welcome to Sydney party at Manning is on Tuesday the 27th is a must with FREE entry and food. Additionally, the opening night party the next night is also in Manning, and according to Anja and Jenna, we should be expecting big things.
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And lessons learnt from O-Weeks past? Jenna recommends not wearing a full-body animal onesie to one of the parties in Manning (cue full body sweats) but throwing yourself into every activity you can and making the most of what’s on offer.
If you’re like me and in your final year of study you might be wondering why you should make the journey in to uni before your first compulsory class, or doubting whether you can keep up with the 2000-born freshies. If the above information hasn’t convinced you that O-Week will be one heck of a week let me just say this is your last year to embrace all that uni life has to offer (and did I mention free stuff?).