Review: May Dippin’

For those who’ve been living in the library for the last year, the celebration of May Dip is a chance for the student body to wash away all previous transgressions by running headlong into the North Sea at sunrise. Taking place during revision week, it is one of the most bonkers traditions at this university but it’s also considered one of the best nights of the academic year, so there are no excuses for not attending. As a second time May Dipper, I was a little sceptical as to how I would top last year’s drunken, freezing and utterly inadvisable (yet wonderful) experience. As the night progressed, it turns out my fears were more than unfounded.

Students were able to start their night at Itchy Feet, which had everybody in the room swinging and jiving to James Brown and Shirley Ellis’s ‘The Clapping Song’ (a crowd favourite). Some particularly practical and fashion forward individuals were more than rocking the white shirt-black tie and Hawaiian board shorts combo in preparation for the 5.25 am start. Open until 1, Itchy Feet turned out to be the best way to get your blood pumping and warmed up, ready to face the icy sea wind down on the beach.

The union may have closed at one, but the night was certainly not over. The Vic was still open and having a blast, courtesy of B-Sides ‘Wet and Windy’ May Dip DJ Set. In their interview with The Stand on Monday, Calum and Theo described their music as summery and jazz oriented. Their set was upbeat and definitely got everybody in the mood, helped along by the anticipatory atmosphere and steady flow of drinks.

The beach slowly filled up from 3:30am onwards, with huge groups of students clustered round bonfires to the soundtrack of several ukuleles strumming out a selection of Jason Mraz songs. The night was remarkably warm and East Sands looked almost postcard perfect as the sun rose. Then the illusion was shattered by hundreds of students, some fully clothed, some not so much, sprinting head first into the freezing water. The air was suddenly filled with high pitched shrieks of joy.

I can’t imagine that very much revision will have been going on today, as people catch up on some much needed sleep, but May Dip is that perfect procrastination excuse… If you missed it, shame on you. However, there’s always next year to fulfil this wacky tradition, and to wash yourself clean of academic incest and that ‘accidental’ step on the PH outside Sallies.