This week in Trinity: RAG Week, ramen and Anthony Scaramucci

Notable guests will visit the Phil, LawSoc, and LitSoc, while charity events take place for RAG Week

Spring has arrived, according to the Irish calendar at least, and it’s time to catch your breath before the assignments and deadlines start piling up once more. This week will be full of big nights out, notable guests and charitable events that are not to be missed.

This week is Trinity’s annual RAG Week, when TCDSU collaborates with an array of societies to bring you a week jam-packed with raising and giving. Monday’s headline event is the Big Fat Quiz of the Year with Trinity FLAC and the Graduate Students’ Union, with four Trinity Ball tickets to be won. Tuesday night will see teams from all your favourite societies battle it out at the Button Factory to be crowned Trinity’s Best Dance Crew. Join TCDSU and VDP on Wednesday night for a metaphorical musical journey through the clubs of Dublin, London, and Berlin in RAG Week Rave, or play Turbo Bingo with SUAS at Bingo Loco. Remember all these events are for charity, so you can feel good about going out five nights in a row, and don’t forget to donate to the various collections around college this week.

Society ball season is also underway, with a romanticism-themed Players Ball on Monday night, Hist Ball on Tuesday, Law Ball on Thursday and SOFIA’s Ambassadors’ Ball right around the corner. Lots of societies will be holding their annual balls in the next few weeks, so make sure to get your tickets for an evening of fancy dress and dancing with your favourite societies.

With elections, historic events and political turmoil all around in the US, the UK, Ireland, and the SU, perhaps you’re looking to brush up on your political knowledge. The Phil will be hosting former White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci at 1pm on Thursday, followed by their weekly debate at 7.30pm on the motion This House Believes Liberal Democracy is Doomed. For a change of topic, SOFIA and Amnesty International are holding a showing of Louis Theroux’s human trafficking documentary Dark States on Tuesday evening.

The second guest in LawSoc’s speaker series will be Lenny Abrahamson, the director of Room who is currently working on BBC’s Normal People adaptation, who will be presented with the Trinity College Praeses Elit Award at 6pm Monday evening. If you’d rather talk books than films, writer and essayist Emilie Pine will be in conversation with LitSoc at 6pm Thursday evening.

LitSoc and the Environmental Society are teaming up to hold a book swap at 1pm Wednesday. Give some of your old books a chance at a new home, and pick up some new reading material at the same time. Continuing with this trend, the Environmental Society is organising a thrift shop fundraiser for the Irish Wildlife Trust on Thursday as part of RAG week. Donate some of your old clothes or get some new ones, all for a good cause. Also on Thursday, EnviroSoc and ZooSoc are taking the Plunge for Pieta at Fourty Foot Dun Laoghaire. Whether you’ll be going out every night this week or would rather stay in, make sure to check out some of the RAG week events and donate what you can.

Finally, at 6.30pm this Thursday, TCD Japanese Soc is holding a ramen eating competition. One lucky challenger will become the Ramen Eating Champion of Trinity – could it be you?

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Phil’s event with Anthony Scaramucci would be held at 2pm, rather than 1pm. The article was amended to correct this error at 1:20pm, 4 February. 

Maggie Larson

Maggie Larson is a Computational Journalist for Trinity News, and a former Deputy Societies Editor.