Ready for Raisin: a Fresher’s Guide

Nowadays:
Let’s be honest, no one really wants a pound of dried grapes. So instead, it is now customary to present one’s parents with a bottle of wine (a much more highly valued form of grapes). After the Raisin parties on Sunday (sometimes even beginning in the wee hours of the morning and lasting until the final person has passed out) the first years wake up on Monday morning and bring a bottle of fermented grapes to their mother’s house. She then dresses them up in some ridiculous fashion (past examples include playboy bunnies and the Lord of the Rings characters) and sends them off to their father’s. Their father is responsible for giving them their raisin receipt. Rather than the traditional note in Latin, fathers of today are much more creative. These receipts vary greatly but are generally obnoxiously large and embarrassing to be seen with. These receipts are taken down to Sally’s Quad where the weekend culminates in a giant foam fight.

Essential information:

 

• Raisin Sunday
• The University has made it abundantly clear that no one should drink anything that they do not feel comfortable drinking. That being said, they have set up a variety of services for students who find themselves unable to look after themselves.
• Rather than dialling 999, call the raisin help line: (01334 46) 2020 or 10334 476161 (1212 from an internal line) if you need help (put these numbers in your phone now, NOT when you are trying to figure out where you live and how you ended up in an alley on Market St).
• If you don’t know where you are going get yourself to the Mansfield Building. Don’t worry about not being able to find – it’s by Empire, so your drunk self will have no problem. There will be ambulances, shuttle buses to take you back to hall, and beds to sleep in.
• DO NOT drink on the street, it is against the law and you could get arrested.
• ABSOLUTELY DO NOT pee on the street, if caught you will be charged with indecent exposure and put on the sex offender registry list (try explaining that to future employers).

 

• Inappropriate receipts
• The university is kind enough to dispose of receipts, but they do have some limits. Certain things you should not use include:
• Livestock
• Deadstock
• Electronic equipment
• Stolen goods (sounds self-evident but it has been a problem in the past)

 

• The foam fight
• It starts at 11 am Raisin Monday on Sally’s Quad for the Freshers who are lucky enough to make it out of bed that morning
• This may seem obvious but don’t rock up in your finest, it will get ruined
• It’s BYOF (Bring Your Own Foam)
• Foam means shaving cream, NOT hair removal cream (don’t be that guy, it’s just not funny)