Orientation Week

During my students life, I've experienced three orientation weeks.
But none can beat the ones that I had when I entered my bachelor programme.
We had to participate both the university's as well as the respective faculties orientation.
Every morning the bus fetched us from our residential college to the faculty.
They dropped us down at a place where we need to climb up the so called 'death stair' cause it was small, narrow and steep. Yet it was a long way to climb before we reached the faculty.

We were to dress as dull as we can be, reason being to make ourselves unattractive to the seniors.
All ready with snickers....ready to run for our lives.

There were a few rules to follow:
1. All must face downward at all time.
2. We were to greet the seniors like this:
"Good morning, the most honorable senior gentleman sir" and "Good morning, the most honorable senior lady ma'am".

3. Run in two straight lines.
4. Hold on tight the hand of your partner.
5. If your bags got caught by the senior, leave them behind. Save you life first...i.e...continue running.
6. At all times, no seniors could touch us physically.

Every time the lectures are done, we had our tug-of-war event.
Here we divide ourselves into two groups to keep both of the lecture door closed. Seniors kept on pushing from the outside and we would hold as long as we could from the inside.

Some were shouted at. Many cried.

What do we get out of it?
1. The unusual first contact between seniors and juniors could actually turned out being good friends.
2. We respected our seniors.

We don't see this value much nowadays.
Wondering was it due to the orientation or something else?
I'm not sure.
But my 20 sen gut feeling said orientation could bring out this value provided that we don't cross the border.
Cases that went overboard probably due to juniors trying to go against their seniors which could irritate the egoistic seniors.
Well, don't do that cause you'll someday become seniors yourself.