One Does Not Simply Walk Into POETS

On Friday, September 14^th, first and upper-year students alike got ready for the Beginning of Term party (BOT), the first of three pub nights this term. It took place at the POETS Engineering Lounge, which is run by POETS Managers for the Engineering Society. After surviving the first week of classes, there was no better way to blow off some steam and celebrate with your new group of friends than by enjoying a night out of partying and dancing (or swaying awkwardly to the music), perhaps with a slice of pizza and a drink. The Lord of the Rings theme paid tribute to the winning team of Frosh Week, Light Brown. Although there weren’t as many people in costumes as you would expect, the decorations remained true, with signs that included a picture of Boromir, with a quote of which I had to consult my nerdy roommate for recalling: “One Does Not Simply Walk into POETS”. Besides the hobbits and elves, the most anticipated and memorable part of the night was the epic appearance of The Tool and Tool Bearers, as well as a humorous video of Orientation Week highlights, which was produced and administered by skillful Media Gurus. Following long-time engineering tradition, students praised The Tool and chugged beer, although the latter was not possible for the first-years, as security made sure that didn’t happen with some help of the notorious marks on our hands and wrists.

The doors were open from 7:00-9:00PM, although most first-years left, no doubt exhausted, along with the Tool Bearers after 8:45; and if, like me, they weren’t driven to the Outdoor Concert by their more enduring friends, they went straight to bed. The general attendance for the night resulted in fifty or so engineering students, plus the occasional crashers from the Faculty of Environment. Sure, the night was awkward at first (especially for first-years like me), but with the help and enthusiasm of upper year students, freshmen eventually got into the rhythm and managed to have an overall good time. The way to remember this experience is as a great chance to meet new peers that you found things in common with, and as the prologue for many more fun times to come this term at the University of Waterloo. One week down, fourteen more to go… So keep on studying hard, and look forward to upcoming chances to party.