Welcome from the Board, Blake Gray

Welcome from the GUU Board...

Dear Freshers,

On behalf of the Glasgow University Union, I want to welcome you to Freshers' Week and the beginning of what will undoubtedly be some of the best years of your life. Lectures are important and you'll learn a lot from them, but it's extra-curricular and social experiences where Uni truly comes into its own. Lucky for you you've chosen Glasgow, one of Europe's best student cities, and a University world famous for student culture and experience. You couldn't have made a better choice.

Rather than beat around the bush, I'll be honest with you. We're gutted as much as you are that you cannot have the Freshers' week experience we all had and which you all deserve. You're entering Uni and moving away from home at one of the strangest times in modern history. When you should be getting to experience the freedom of adulthood and Uni living, global events are dictating things outside all our control. I can't imagine having started Uni like that back when I arrived, and in the short term its going to keep being tough. You deserve massive credit for making it here so far, and we're all here to support you through it. What I can promise is that things will get better, and I'd implore you to remember that as term gets going. Experiencing the next year as everything builds back up to what it was will be a different experience , but on the bright side, it will give you a brilliant chance to try more things and fi gure out what you want to do to maximise what you get out of the experience.

With that in mind, we've worked hard to put together a programme of events and activities that will allow you to get to know other Freshers' and integrate with the Union community, as well as the University. We have 4 Union's at Glasgow and our one is the oldest and the best (although of course I would say that! Do check all of them out and get involved in as much as you can between us).

At GUU, from magazines you can write for to open mic nights where you can perform, from quizzes you can win prizes at to debates against European champions and from the most popular student club night in Glasgow to the highlight of the University calendar with the Daft Friday (D*** F*****) 12 hour long ball at Christmas, we have an amazing range of things for you to enjoy.

These pages outline what we've organised for this Freshers' Week and how you can get involved. As things get back to normal, we promise you'll get to experience everything else. We want nothing more than for you to be here with us when we can provide that, so remember that we and the whole Uni community are here for you at all times, and also remember, GUU has more fun.

Blake Gray Honorary Secretary GUU