Sign me up!

Today was the start of Freshers' Week, and as such, I dutifully turned up to college bright and early this morning to get a taste of the excitement. Stalls abounded, offering everything from the Chinese Society to the Visual Arts Appreciation Society, from Rugby Club to the Fencing Club to the Young Socialist's Workers Whatever-you're-having-yourself Party. The array and the sheer amount of choice is dazzling, so much so that several circuits of Parliament Square are required just to scope out what was happening. It appeared to be a bit like an air traffic control queueing system, with people circulating and occasionally dropping finding a stall to slot into.

Much to my delight and surprise, I was headhunted by the Boat Club (rowing). This came as a total surprise, as beneath my coat, I was hiding a skinny frame; a frame far too skinny for rowing, one would have thought. It turns out that this is not so, and they are more than happy to have tall skinny people on board (literally). I later sussed out that they had scouts finding all of the tall people, and trying to persuade them to the boat club, as apparently height is a sought after quality in such circles.

As a giraffe myself, I suddenly felt very at home with all of these tall men (with shoulders!) showing interest in me. Granted rowing is notoriously competitive, and I suspect that I would be shite at it; but then again it presents a challenge. Also, as most freshers are total novices, and therefore unlikely to be any good, there is some consolation in the thought that we are all in the same boat, so to speak. It might well come to nothing, but it's worth a try.

So anyway here's a list of what I joined, and why:

• An Cumann Gaelach: An Ghaeilge a labhairt agus deiseanna a chothú tri sin a dhéanamh.

• The Phil: Possibly the most famous and influential society in TCD; it's notionally a debating society, but I'm unsure of how that stands up to scrutiny. Still trying to determine its dickhead to sound quotient, but I'm sure that will rapidly become apparent.

• The Hist: The oldest society in TCD; it's notionally and possibly more practically a debating society, however that will also require scrutiny. It's possible that dickheads abound here too, we'll just have to wait and see. I've joined both, in order to hedge my bets.

• The Theo: This the the University Theological Society; it could be well worth a look in. Apparently they've secured a devout Creationist, i.e. a person who genuinely believes that God created the world during the course of a six day period, for one of their weekly debates, which to me sounds something akin to bear baiting; this should be a howl.

• Dublin University Kayak Club (DUKC): Kayaking was originally "my sport" before I discovered hiking, so it's time to make a long-awaited reemergence onto the river.

• Dublin University Boat Club (DUBC): See above

• Trinity Arts Workshop: Ever since I was a child, I always wanted to try my hand at pottery. Come to think of it, Santa once brought me a potter's wheel for Christmas. Results at the time were unconvincing, but hopefully that with a bit of tuition and guidance I should be giving Demi Moore and the ghost of Patrick Swayeze a run for their money.

• Knit Soc: When I was working for the Office the Never Works (OPW) I used to knit at my desk in order to pass the time. In fact, I would hypothesize that productivity within government departments could be boosted if all civil servants were provided with wool and needles, especially as we run into the winter season. Anyway, I've joined the Knit Soc, just in case...

• SUAS: Rebecca recommended this, it's an overseas aid education trust, providing education to disadvantaged children in the Third World, or something to that effect; providing schools in Coolock, in other words.

• Voluntary Tuition Programme: I've signed up to teach one grind a week as part of a volunteer programme. It's only an hour, so if my small contribution helps someone who is struggling with their education, then it's an hour well spent.

• Labour Youth: I've finally decided to get political. Selection was made by process of elimination: Fianna Fáil were obviously the first to go, followed closely by the Greens. Fine Gael are basically just Fianna Fáil only in blue, so that left Labour. So yes, it's official; I'm now a communist!

So anyway, that's me now. The next job is to figure of when all of the various training sessions are and try and fit them into a reasonably workable schedule; should be fun!