Activities Night

Today and tomorrow McGill is holding 'activities night', which is their equivalent of a university societies fair.

First off, I couldn't believe how much of an operation it was: we queued for probably just short of an hour to even get in, then we were marshalled through the student union building, room after room, floor after floor, to see everything extra-curricular that is on offer here.

There is a heck of a lot going on - I couldn't believe the number of cultural societies which are here . . . just reinforces quite how international the student body is at McGill. Speaking of which we were all slightly baffled by 'British Appreciation Society'. None of the members sat at the table to tell us about their society were in fact British. Rather the society promises to 'bring together Brits and their admirers'. As they offered us Digestives and Tetley's tea, and promised regular pub trips and 'footy' games it became clear that we were genuinely being promised to be admired. Not sure if this is awesome or intimidating . . .

As I (and I think everybody) always do, I signed up for far too many activities. I am definitely getting back into Best Buddies or Vrais Copains as it is here, having been a big part of the society back in Edinburgh. They are keen to work out a way to become pen pals with our university branch - very exciting. There is also the possibility of volunteering with Anglophone school children at a homework club as part of a programme recognised by the Dean - 30 hours gets you a letter of accreditation from him, pretty snazzy.

Helena and I are also keen to join the university choir, and I have signed up for a couple of the university publication's newsletters. History Society also publish an academic journal every year, and want to see if Retrospect are up to host a guest writer. Even if none of these things come to much fruition, the night has re-invigorated my 'buzz' for student life and made me feel confident of lots of ways to get involved within the McGill community.

I had promised myself I wouldn't overload myself with extra-curricular commitments like last year, so I'm going to go steady - I musn't forget I'm still on my Retrospect committee back in the Burgh. Oo it is all just far too exciting! (Apologies for saying exciting far too much . . .)