What’s a fresher’s first Crewdate like?

Having pennies and sconces thrown around is quite surreal


The first thing you’re forced to tackle when you get to Oxford – no matter which college you’re at – is the lingo. From pidges to plodges, tutes to vacs, there’s no doubt you’ll have encountered the joys of pennying and sconcing somewhere along the way. Sure, other universities have tried to jump on the bandwagon (pennying apparently made its way to Durham, and it’s supposedly called God Save the Queen in other parts of the country) but the sheer amount of vocabulary can often be a smack in the face.

And then you have crewdates.

Fifteen quid for a bowl of rice may sound extravagant, but when you consider it as compensation to the management, it seems quite reasonable. Especially when a chair falls down the stairs and smashes a mirror in the main restaurant below. Not that that’s ever happened or anything…

A first year rower hit the nail on the head: “Lubricated with alcohol, it’s a sure-fire way to find out what’s been going on in the boat house”. If you’re smart, you can use it to get some first class gossip about the rest of your team to save for future sconces – but everyone’s usually had too much crap wine to plan any further ahead than making it to Bridge.

But do they really live up to expectations?

Novice crewdaters Fred, Han & Finn

6pm: Dinner. Fred: “Wait, why are we having food in halls? Aren’t we going to a restaurant?”

7:30pm: The world’s earliest crewdate, courtesy of typical last-minute booking. Finn: “I thought it was Arzoo’s. This isn’t called Arzoo’s. It just has a piece of paper in the window with ‘Arzoo’s’ written on it in Sharpie.”

7:31pm: Sconcing commences – including a quick-fire sconce-off between two best friends.

7:45pm: Sconcing is STILL going. It’s been 14 minutes and they haven’t even had a break. Han: “I’m so glad you’ve got nothing on me – this is brutal.”

8:00pm: Food finally arrives. It looks pretty gross. Han: “The curry’s not actually that bad, you know. I wouldn’t touch that orange one though.”

8:26pm: I’m hit on the head by a penny. It hurts more than you think.

8:47pm: Someone yells “SHOOOOE” and suddenly everyone has their shoes on their heads. One poor guy was wearing Dr Martens and doesn’t get his shoe off on time. He is forced to drink red wine out of his shoe. He looks like he might cry. A girl comments: “you sit down and the first thing you do is untie your shoelaces. Them’s the rules.”

9:09: People start trying to leave. The table looks like a bombsite. Finn: “I feel kinda bad for the staff…”

9:15pm: The company adjourns (read: staggers) back to the JCR to continue drinking. Only, half of us seem to make it to the college bar instead. No complaints.

10:30pm: “BRIDGE. BRIDGE. BRIDGE.”

10:31pm: Blurry.

My memory of the rest of this night is blurrier than this pic

For a fresher, having pennies and sconces thrown around at a high velocity every few seconds is a pretty surreal experience. Some people absolutely love crewdates, but it’s pretty clear that they aren’t for everyone. It’s a great way to actually talk to new people and expand beyond the circle of your own college, but at the end of the day it really is just something to tick off the checklist of Oxford experiences.

Crewdates in a single word?

Fred: Messy.

Finn: Enlightening.

Han: So Oxford. (Cheater)