An introduction to the different ways to socialise at Durham and how to sign up during WOW week.

Socialising is often part of your university experience. During WOW (fresher’s) week there is the chance to have a nosy and find out what each society is offering at fresher’s fairs. In Durham societies work on a college level (specific to your college) and a university level (open to all). The JCR or Junior common room of a college is the college student union and organises college level societies and sports. The Durham student union (SU) organise college wide societies and Team Durham for college wide sports, Durham Student Music organise university orchestras and bands. This means that there are 2 freshers fairs: one organised by college and one for the whole university. Volunteering is another way to socialise and is organised through DU Volunteering.

The number of clubs, sports and societies is very large. Choosing just a few can be challenging, but not going to too many is important to avoid ‘burnout’.

Research the college societies and the university wide societies and draw up a ‘shortlist’ of the sports and societies that you are most interested in. Then go to freshers fair and meet the execs and discuss their offering. You may then attend a taster day to see what it is like.

• Shortlist some societies you are interested in joining. The college level societies are found through the college JCR websites and social media. SU societies are found here https://www.durhamsu.com/groups.
• Attend freshers fair during the quiet hours. This is most likely to be at the start or end or during lunch, but the SU has advertised quiet times closer to the date.
• Try volunteering. You may want to attend a talk (these are generally offered during freshers’ week) or try contacting the relevant contact.
• Music groups can be found here: https://durhamstudentmusic.org/
• Team Durham sports can be found here (these are generally more intense than sport at a collegiate level): https://www.durham.ac.uk/colleges-and-student-experience/team-durham/performance/university-sport/

Written by a current Durham University student