You know that feeling when you hear the same word over and over again and it starts to seem weird? Like it shouldn’t be a word at all? You wonder if it’s being said right; if it even means anything. How the word seems so alien to you that you suddenly start to doubt your knowledge of the language? I get this feeling every trimester during Club Day…and for the exact same word everytime. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. See?
Club Day during my first trimester here was held at the Commons – a drab affair that seemed very much like one of those trade expo’s – a place to loiter around, browse all the stalls, pick up all the brochures and kill your time eating the ice-cream. I had half a mind to skip Club Day this time, simply because I felt that, being a old continuing student, I knew everything there was to know about clubs on campus. But the fact that it was being held at the TEC piqued my interest, and I decided to give it a shot. And boy, was it worth it.
Clubs went all-out to impress their potential members. Club leaders put on costumes that spoke louder than their posters, and strangely, nobody seemed out of place. Some of the sports clubs put on a display of their skills (although it did not end well for the Volleyball Club – check out the video below). ThunderDance put on an impromptu performance, dancing to that addictive Korean song while Global Sounds had live performances – previews for what to expect from them this trimester. Other clubs offered regional snacks, while yet others offered freebies. All in all, a good day out for the loiterer and the interested alike.
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anting to make sure that my feeling of positivity about Club Day was not unwarranted, I spoke to a new student to see if he felt the same. Ariya Aungsusiripong was even more enthusiastic than i was: “I really enjoyed it here today. I expected just sporting and skill-building clubs to be present, but the sheer variety of activities on offer blew me away. It was an eye-opener for me in terms of discovering some new interests that I might pursue”.
Just as I was about to conclude that Club Day had turned out to be a universally popular event, I ran into the cynically creative views of Onyeka Azike, “I feel like Club Day is a lot like speed dating. You flit around from one table to another, giving your number to them all and saying, “Call me maybe?”” That metaphor seemed so appropriate to me that suddenly, I started to feel like a serial flirt. But I attempted to console myself by taking in the vibrant atmosphere, and it worked like a charm. I started to feel positive about the whole thing again, and with a cheerful smile, started to make my exit.
And then, just as everything seemed right in the world, the haunting chant started to attack me from all directions:
“Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”. “Allocate”……
More media from the event:
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