What to expect during Welcome and Orientation week and helpful tips to cope with settling in to Durham.

Settling into Durham generally occurs during Welcome and Orientation Week (WOW week) colloquially referred to as fresher’s week. During this week you will attend many different social events, especially in the evenings which can include walks, movie evenings, karaoke evenings and nights out. Also, during WOW week, you may attend SU and JCR freshers’ fairs and academic sessions in your department. For those who have signed up to the Early Arrival Programme you will arrive earlier on the Thursday ahead of WOW week and attend specific sessions on the Thursday and Friday. You can find out more here.

What is WOW week like?

Generally home student arrivals occur on the Sunday with lots of volunteer students known as freshers’ representatives, or Freps for short, meeting them. They generally help everyone to unpack and there is often music playing and lots of noise at the entrance to the college. During the Sunday parents often attend lunch with you. On Monday colleges often give talks about health and safety and life at university in the morning, and you attend academic talks in the afternoon or on the Tuesday. There is often also a sports fair held at Maiden Castle on the Tuesday. On the Wednesday there is the main SU freshers fair where you can meet and sign up for societies at Maiden Castle. On the Wednesday and Thursday there is often matriculation (a formal enrolment) where you head down to the cathedral in gowns and sit through a matriculation service before walking back to college. This is often accompanied by pots and pans being bashed (depending on college) as you walk back to college and lots of noise and music. On the Thursday and Friday there are often consent workshops held as well. On the Saturday there is often a college sports and societies fair. In the evenings there often a whole suite of events being run by Freps such as Bingo nights, pub quizzes, karaoke and murder mysteries, as well as nights out.

WOW week can be an extremely tiring period of intense socialisation and lack of structure. Therefore, you will find it helpful to read the practical tips to alleviate stress and have a calm WOW week.

1. Plan your week. This will help give you structure and certainty on what to expect. There is WOW week planner here. Colleges often post WOW week timetables on their JCR social media such as Instagram and Facebook. Each college often has a JCR handbook as well that can be found on the JCR website or it is emailed.
2. Remember to plan rest time and not rush to do everything. Most people don’t make permanent friends during freshers week but over a longer period of time through societies etc.
3. Create a shortlist of sports and societies you are interested in to help plan your time. You may want to attend Disabled and Carers Association (DACA) socials during WOW week.
4. Know where your lectures are. Building locations can be found here and how to interpret my timetable can be found here.
5. Understand where to shop, eat and how to do your laundry and about the practicalities of Durham (Read articles in this section).
6. Take earplugs with you everywhere. It can be really helpful especially at evening events and matriculation.
7. Ask colleges and departments about any reasonable adjustments you may need. If you are nervous about matriculation, contact your college student support (often the assistant principal) to ask for any reasonable adjustments. Similarly, do ask your academic department if you are anxious about anything – they will be more than happy to help, but they need to know you need help!

Written by a current Durham University student