Should Refreshers be revived?

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he Students’ Guild revealed towards the end of last term, that Refreshers week – the week in which societies put on more taster sessions for people to try during ‘exam week’ in term two – was to be cancelled for January 2018. This wasn’t quite the traumatic/thankful/all-of-the-above news of the Saturday Lemmy coming to an end, but nonetheless, Refreshers week has been around for a while, and encourages students (particularly second years who weren’t going to subject themselves to attending Freshers week in September) to try out societies that they haven’t had the chance to as of yet.

Clearly, it’s never been advertised on the same scale as the original Freshers week, but for those who have heard stories from first term of socials and a larger circle of friends than just your flat, and wanted to be a part of it, it was a great opportunity to get involved.

we are expected not to falter, for even a single week, in maintaining our social life

However, for the unlucky majority with January exams, Refreshers week seems pointless. In addition to spending 24 hours in the library, attempting to fit 12 weeks’ worth of work into 2 days, we are also expected not to falter, for even a single week, in maintaining our social life. A week of trial sessions and pressure to be part of a society is just another thing to add to the list of ‘Things That Cause Stress At University’, and it’s never been appreciated in the way it could’ve been, had Refreshers been even a week later in the term.

We can’t deny, however, that Refreshers is a great time for people to get the opportunity to try new activities with the comfort that they wouldn’t be the only new members. It will be missed, but, I predict it won’t cause the same large range of emotions as ending Saturday Lemmy has.