Noor-E Shahrin
Cannon Contributor
It’s week of grand welcome fit for the incoming class of Engineering U of T: F!rosh Week! Full of sporty activities, workshops, dancing, and touring, there’s something for everyone in this festival. At first glance, it may seem more suitable for the extroverted and socially active demographic. Let’s look through these series of events through the eyes of an introvert.
You are not the outgoing hype kind. You are just excited to get accepted to Skule™. You read up about F!rosh Week and you’d rather just settle down at your residence, curl up with a good book and wait for classes to start. But you think to yourself, isn’t university all about getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing events like this? Register already! What’s the worst that could happen?
You have just arrived to the field and already feel miles away from your comfort zone. Your frosh group is cheering for you as you walk towards them. Being the centre of attention is not your thing. Immediate regret rushes through you; you really wish you were back with that book. But now you were a part of this huge team and soon you were chanting alongside them. Not too bad. School pride chants have a soulful rhythm to them.
The Leedurs ask you to introduce yourself and you get through it just fine because they made you feel so welcome. They take you on campus tour so you aren’t a lost purple lamb on your first day. You notice many of your peers have formed groups and it’s difficult for you to make your place in those smaller circles. But the people around you want to get to know you better, ask you how you like it there and soon you find some like-minded people to spend the rest of the day with. Good job!
You reach home after the first day of frosh week and can’t feel your legs. You decide you’ve had enough hype for the next four years and don’t want to go the second day. But you went through the first day in one piece! Aren’t you curious what lies ahead?
You show up the next day and it’s like someone put the week in fast forward. They put you through activities after activities. You don’t even have time to feel self-conscious or nervous. Everyone applauds at the hidden talents you portray in the sports or creativity activities proving that you didn’t get into Skule™ without being a fast learner.
Everyone’s bathing in purple paint? You just dip your pinky finger in it and call it a day. The engineering dance? It’s in a crowd so you just squat short and pretend nobody can see you. Everyone jumped into the water at Nathan Philips Square? You’d stand out if you didn’t as well so you join the mass. The “Havenger Scunt”? Perfect brain exercise to warm yourself up after a lazy summer. You try to keep up with your team and solve each problem but you work better alone and soon lose sight of your team members. So you just quietly take leave.
Before your sore muscles could get enough rest, you are sitting in your first lecture. The few people you know from F!rosh waves at you from the first row and asks you to sit with them. Now, wasn’t F!rosh worth all the energy you put into it?
You could simply decide not to get involved in Frosh Week activities. Be assured that the U of T community is accepting of everyone’s perspective and choices one makes for himself. Four crucial years of accomplishments and memories await you.