This week, my college was running its annual student welcome fair. This fair was designed to welcome the first years to the college, and get them interested in activities around the campuses.

After my tutorial this morning, I attended the Welcome Fair with a few of my fellow students. There were many booths, both inside in the student common room (known as the Hive), and outside in the courtyard, (near the affectively known pool-cue tree, nicknamed for a dear ex-Bromley college boy!).

I started off, with meeting some Pigs and Chickens from a second chance animal shelter. I am a big animal lover, and volunteered at an animal shelter many years ago, so I fell instantly in love with the pigs! It’s always been my dream that when I leave university, I would like to move out into the countryside and have a small-holding.

After my brief love affair with the farmyard animals, my friends and I went to the common room to visit the other stands on offer. We were awash with the sheer variety of information booths available. Some offered student-discounted gym memberships, others offered information about driving, and there were even some offering jobs with charities, such as Mencap.

My friends and I visited virtually every booth in turn. I spent a great deal of time talking to members of the group Bypass (Bromley Young Person’s Alcohol Substance Service) who support young people aged 10-18 with substance-related problems. This charity held views very close to my heart, and I was shocked to see, different substances laid out before me. I will admit, I am not well-versed in drugs, I wouldn’t know what I am looking at. Yet the people from Bypass were very keen on my friend and I familiarizing ourselves with how drugs are carried and what they might look like.

We also visited several sexual health booths that were on offer today. We had a chance to meet the on-site college nurse, who told us about services available at the college, time of drop-in sessions and other drop-ins we can use in emergencies. We were given many freebies (condoms and key-rings) at this stand, and were also given the opportunity to take a free Chlamydia test and given contraceptive advice. I have to admit, my college has an exception health-care system in place, and we are given easy access to both information and help at any point that we require it.

Also during the fair, we were given the opportunity to have ‘tattoos’ painted on our bodies and given free balloon art. This really drew the students in, and got them excited about the welcome fair.

This welcome fair, really brightened up an otherwise, dreaded, Monday morning, and got the students very excited about up and coming events at the college, for which I can vouch, there are many! It was a very good way to start the new term.