Now that the dust has settled after what was hopefully a successful Freshers’ Week for everyone, we can all look forward to the resumption of regular weekly society events, although this time: Zoom edition. Hopefully, we are socially warmed up after the months of enforced solitude and are looking forward to another year of society events. If reading lists are stretching infinitely into the horizon, or you are still reeling from the struggle of Zoom “breakout rooms” in seminars, getting involved or re-involved in societies is an excellent way to destress and keep up those all important social interactions.
If you are a dancer, or have always wanted to be one, DU Dance Society are holding their 2020 Intervarsity Auditions throughout the week. For those not in the know, Intervarsities are annual competitions held between universities in Ireland in sports and the performing arts. DU Dance will hold auditions for their Contemporary, Hip Hop, Jazz and Irish dancing teams. Obviously, this year auditions will work in a different kind of format. On the morning of the audition for each style of dance, there will be a piece of choreography uploaded on Facebook which you can learn. You can then record a video of yourself performing the piece and send it to DU Dance by the end of the day. Intervarsities are truly great fun, and a fantastic way to make friends. All are welcome to audition, even if you have no previous official dance training or competition experience.
Today the Hist will be starting their Novice Debate Training sessions, where you can learn the basics of debating from how to “construct and deliver arguments”, to simply building up your debating confidence. The Novice Training is open to anyone new to university debating, whether you are a Fresher or not. Additionally, DU Business and Economics Society (DUBES), will have a Question and Answer session with former graduates, each of whom is working in different fields of business, such as Annie O’ Gormon, who specializes in Strategy and Transactions, and Christine O’Neill, a Tax Specialist.
On Tuesday, the Comedy Society will begin their weekly Writers Room, from 3-5pm, where you can finetune your comedy writing skills in case the whole getting-a-degree-thing doesn’t work out as planned and an abrupt change of career path is necessary. Similarly on Tuesday, the Knitting Society will also start their much spoken of Stitch and Bitch weekly meet up from 5-7pm. On Wednesday, Comedy Society will also begin their weekly Comedians Getting Coffee event from 12-1pm.
DU Gamers Society will be holding a Social Board Games event on Wednesday from 6-9pm. This is a chance to meet the committee members, maybe make a new friend or two, or just release your board game competitiveness for a few hours.
On Thursday, the Society for International Affairs (SOFIA) will be welcoming their first speaker of the year, Hanna Liubakova, a journalist from Belarus who has been involved in the protests there these past weeks. Tune in at 7pm to hear her speak about her experiences of the protests, and her thoughts on the current political climate in Belarus. This is only open to those who are members of the society, so sign up soon if you want to attend what is sure to be a fascinating discussion. Also on Thursday the DU Gamers Society will host an Intro to Wargames from 6-9pm — perhaps an opportunity to safely vent a bit of first week stress.
The DU Astrology Society will be holding an Astrosoc Intro Extravaganza on Friday at 7pm. As their first official event of the year, this will be an introduction to the society, and an opportunity to chat about your knowledge and experiences in astrology. Be you an astrology aficionado or someone slightly more doubtful of the influence of the stars on our fate, you are welcome to join in the discussion about star signs and the recent unusual activity of the heavens.
More society events are sure to be posted throughout the week, so keep an eye on Facebook pages for more information. If you haven’t yet joined any societies, you can still do so on the TCD CSC sign up hub.
