On the first Wednesday of the semester, N-house welcomed its new batch of students. Comprised of NOC alumni from various overseas colleges, as well as current students from NCSG (previously known as iLead Programme), the residents were excited to meet their new housemates!
As residents made their way to VentureLab, they are presented with an adorable door tag and a door stop. From 3 superheroes (Batman, Superman, Spiderman), they select one which represent their personality best. In addition, the RAs also gave out door stops in conjunction with N-house’s open door policy to encourage interactions among residents in N-house.
As we waited for residents to arrive, residents interacted with each other while enjoying scrumptious cuisines. With lemon cordial drink in one hand, honey glazed chicken drum stick in another, they excitedly traded stories of their NOC experience with their new found friends. This was also a time where batchmates from the same NOC colleges caught up with each other after returning to Singapore. Soon, the once placid room was filled with chatters of excitement.
At 8pm sharp, the official programme kicked off. Senior manager of NUS Overseas College Programme, Hui Min, warmly welcomed all residents to N-house community. She reminded the residents on some rules of the N-house, but lightened the mood by encouraging them to participate actively in N-house activities. Next, the Resident Assistants introduced themselves to the residents for the first time, and shared the upcoming programme list for the rest of the semester.
After the administrative briefing, the residents played a series of games to be more comfortable with each other (after all, these are the people who they will eat, sleep and play with).
The first game is called squirrels. In this game, everyone gets into groups of three. Two people stand facing each other and join hands to create an arch they are the tree, the third person crouches underneath it and becomes the squirrel. When the game master called ‘hunter’, all the squirrels run to a new ‘tree’. When the game master called ‘fire’, the trees move to a new squirrel, and they must find a new partner to create a tree over a squirrel. When the game master called ‘earthquake’, everyone moves and takes a new position as either a tree or a squirrel.
As expected, whenever a name is called, VentureLab erupted!
The next game is called partner show-and-tell. In 3 minutes, residents need to find a partner, and share 5 interesting fact to their partners. By the end of the period, they will introduce their friends to the whole group.
A simple game, eh? Well, it took a turn when residents quickly forgot essential information of their partners. In response to their short term memory, residents either stand and laugh awkwardly, by pass it with trivial facts (“ His name is John”), or pretended that they have already covered 5 facts and raced back to their seats.
The evening rounded up with a group photo. From the smiles on everyone’s face, it’s evident that the Welcome Party is a success!
