Every student who ever participated in the orientation week has legendary, embarrassing or sad memories of it. Five later-year students share the most memorable moment from their orientation week, one they look back on with mixed feelings.

‘We peed from the Waalbrug on the Pancake Boat’

Science student (male, 26 years old): ‘During Orientation Week we did a treasure hunt. One of the assignments was to pee from the Waalbrug. Some of the students in my group thought it’d be fun to take it one step further and pee on a passing ship. I suggested a cargo ship, since it wouldn’t bother anyone, but unfortunately at that moment a Pancake Boat happened to be coming our way. I didn’t join in – which in retrospect I’m glad about – but the others went ahead. The people on the boat were really screaming at us.’

‘My ID card was found in Duisburg’

Psychology student (male, 23 years old): ‘During a bar crawl I bet someone I could drink twice as much as them. I ended up being so drunk that I only vaguely remember the rest of the evening. According to my friends, I kept introducing myself to strangers with my ID card. Afterwards, I didn’t find my ID card until three months later, when I got a phone call from the police station in Duisburg. They had found it. No idea how it ended up there – I’ve never been to Duisburg and I don’t know anyone there.’

‘I had sex with my mentor’

Psychology student (female, 21 years old): ‘A few days into Orientation Week, a new mentor joined our group. We hit it off straight away and grew increasingly close in the following days. Finally, with some encouragement from the other students in my group, we ended up kissing after a long night of partying. Then we went back to his place, where we stayed the entire next day as well. As a result we missed some Orientation activities. It was a bit embarrassing – since it was clear to everyone what had happened – but it was also lots of fun.’

‘I got drunk and fell off my bike’

International Business Communication student (female, 26 years old, recently graduated): ‘I was a mentor during the winter Orientation Week. One night I got so drunk that two of the students I was mentoring had to take me home. I also fell off my bike trying to prove that I could cycle through snow. Clearly, I couldn’t. The next day I woke up with a swollen chin from the fall, and I had to confess to the students in my mentor group that two of them had had to help me get home, instead of the other way around.’

‘I woke up in someone’s front yard’

Art History student (male, 21 years old): ‘At the time of my introduction, I was still completely new to the city. After a Phocas party on the second day, I got very drunk. I still remember being led to my bike, because I forgot where it was – but everything after that is a blank. I woke up in someone’s front yard the next day. Without my bike that I had lent from my landlord. I had to ask a stranger going to work to call me a taxi and never found the bike again.’