O'Week 2012

The year kicks off at NCV with an O’Week program. The aim of O’Week is to introduce our residents to each other, to the local community and to Sydney. It’s a great time of building new friendships and finding your feet, with a little help, in a new place. One of the challenges at NCV is that some of our residents (PhD and MBA students) have already been at uni for a month or two by the time O’Week rolls around. Even so, a week of organized social events can be the perfect way to break up the relentlessness of study!

The week began with a tour of Sydney. On Sunday 19th February, students set off to Circular Quay, to check out Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House. After that, the group hopped on one of Sydney’s famous harbor ferries, and headed across to the seaside suburb of Manly for a walk along the beach… and an ice cream.

On Monday, new residents were officially welcomed to NCV by the Master and Dean. After the formalities, the students joined a “Supper Crawl”, moving from floor to floor of the NCV building to meet the Senior Resident team. Residents enjoyed a different snack on each floor as well as the opportunity to meet other NCV residents (both new and old).

Tuesday of O’Week saw the inaugural Fat Penguin Night, NCV’s own original “ice breaker”. Borrowing from “speed-dating” but without any romantic objective, residents circulated, spending two minutes with each other before moving on to the next person. The evening was preceded by drinks and canapés in the MCR.

For Wednesday night’s activity, residents descended on the Main Common Room for an O’Week favorite, the annual NCV Trivia Night. Residents competed alongside their floormates for trivia supremacy. Level 4 snuck home in a thriller, beating Level 2 by one and a half points.

On Thursday night residents hit some of the classy cocktail bars in the city, at NCV’s annual 5-Star Hotel Crawl. Destinations included the Shangri La’s Blu Bar on 36, the Opera Bar at the Sydney Opera House and the ECQ Bar at Quay Grand. Residents enjoyed a quiet drink with great company and magnificent views.

On Friday afternoon interested folk gathered for the Local Church Services Introduction (at 5 pm), at which the Senior Ministry Resident gave new residents some guidance in what to look for in a new church. Residents also promoted their own congregations, and introduced some of the various ministry opportunities available on campus and within NCV. After this the Senior Resident Team cooked up a delicious barbecue of steaks, chicken fillet, sausages and vegetarian patties. This was followed by karaoke in the Main Common Room. Nathan and Michaels’ version of Thunderstruck by AC/DC was a hit, along with the Senior Resident Team’s version of Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler.

Early on Saturday evening the researchers of NCV gathered in the Main Common Room for some wine and nibbles. NCV is home to a number of PhD, Honours and ILP students, and effort is made to get the researchers mixing together from early in the year. At 8 pm focus turned to the Roof Top Terrace for the NCV Wine & Cheese Night, where residents could sample a range of wine and cheeses from across Australia.

Sunday afternoon saw NCVers head to Kensington Bowling Club for a quiet afternoon of Lawn Bowls. It was the perfect way to round out an enjoyable week of getting to know each other.

O'Week 2012