Raisin Weekend

So last weekend was the craziest weekend I think I will encounter at St. Andrews. Raisin Weekend is a tradition at St. Andrews that actually goes back a few hundred years. I'm not entirely sure when it started, but as most other things here are, it is pretty old. I'm also not quite sure how to explain it, but I'll try.

Raisin weekend is centered around your academic families. Older students (mostly 3rd year, sometimes 4th year), adopt 1st years and forms a family. Each 1st year has a mom and a dad. On Raisin Sunday, you spend the day with your mom and then go to a party hosted by your dad. If your dad is mean, he might wake you up at some horribly early time in the morning and make you do something before your mom's party (like run into the North Sea). I am happy to say that my dad did not wake me up in the morning. I actually got to sleep in on Raisin Sunday, which is unusual. My friend across the hall didn't though. Her dad is crazy. She was told to leave the door unlocked, sleep in her clothes, and have a bucket by her bed (never a good sign...). I was woken up at 6:30 in the morning to a large crowd of people storming up our stairs and into her room. It was terrifying.

And that is not unusual for Raisin. Honestly, for a majority of people, Raisin is an opportunity to get completely and wildly wasted. I heard so many stories from last year about people being sick before 10:00 in the morning. We had a mandatory police talk in Hall last week. Apparently in the past, people have stolen things and destroyed property. They bring in extra police for the weekend, and they aren't afraid to arrest students. It was also reassuring to hear that the Red Cross was coming in for the weekend... So, as some of y'all already knew, I was a little concerned about Raisin. All the first years were. About a week beforehand we all sat around and discussed what we thought would happen in hushed tones during meals. On Saturday night we were all acting as if we were about to go into battle the next morning.

But my parents are awesome, and my fears weren't met. My parents' parties were chill, and they openly said that we didn't have to do anything that we didn't want to do. I already knew that nobody could seriously force me to do something that I really didn't want to do, but sometimes that can put you in an awkward position. But my parents respected that, and they didn't have us do anything insane, so I wasn't put into that position. I seriously appreciated that, and it made the weekend a whole lot more enjoyable. It was still totally crazy, but a good crazy!

Scavenger hunt task

Back to my mom's party. We met at 10:00 in our hall. My mom teamed up with her friend, so we did games with another family. I had a Senior Retreat moment. For "breakfast" my mom tied doughnuts to pieces of string and we had to eat them without using our hands. We also did a scavenger hunt. We had to do a bunch of random tasks like make a human pyramid in a store, do the YMCA in a coffee shop (we got kicked out for that...), buy something for exactly 22 pence from Tescos (lemon curd), ask directions to a really obvious place, etc. This was pretty much the only time I was out about town on Raisin Sunday, and watching other families was rather amusing. Some were tied up together, others were barely standing, and a lucky few had their parents' numbers and addresses written in sharpie on their arms in case they "got lost." Then there were the people not associated with the school. The locals looked annoyed ("Ugh, it's Raisin Weekend isn't it?"), and visitors looked extraordinarily confused.

So for his party, my dad did a joint gathering with his flatmates, and we did more family games. We played Spoons in the beginning, and they hid the spoons we were using. Our first task was to go find the spoons, which essentially meant tearing up their flat because there were 4 spoons and 6 people (I found one! In a stuffed hippo...) We also played sardines (which was interesting in a tiny flat...) and some random card games. It was mostly just hanging out (with some people trying to recover from all of the drinking they did earlier that day).

Dalek/Cyberman family

I met my mom the following morning so she could give me my costume for the foam fight. AND IT WAS DOCTOR WHO THEMED! We were a mix of Daleks and Cybermen (I was a cyberman). Somehow, my mom and her friend managed to make cybermen and dalek costumes out of tin foil, duct tape, string, plastic cups, and trash bags. I was quite impressed. For my costume, I was wrapped in tin foil and given a super awesome foil cyberman helmet that somehow survived the foam fight. Then my dad came over and gave me and my siblings our raisin receipts. Raisin receipts are something you have to carry down to the quad when you go to the foam fight. Dads can make you carry anything they want, and they are usually large, heavy, and awkward to carry. My dad was considering making us wheel him down in a wheelbarrow, but he decided against that (which was good, because it would have only been me and my sister...) Instead we were given those miniature instruments that you give to small children. I got a mini xylophone, and it was adorable!

My sister and I after the foam fight!

I felt like I was in a parade when I was walking down to the Quad. The locals come out to watch the procession, and visitors looked more confused then they did the day before. They also all laugh at us, but whatever. The University has the foam fight ridiculously well organized, and there is a very specific  way we had to enter the quad. But once we were in, chaos erupted and the foam began to fly. I was armed with 2 cans of foam and spent the next 45 minutes running around the quad. Pretty soon people were covered in so much foam that they were unrecognizable. My parents were waiting for us outside of the quad, and my sister and I deemed that it was completely acceptable to go hug them (they were good humored about this). Getting back into Hall was our last challenged. My hall had prepared well for Raisin: the carpet in the front was covered with plastic wrap and the entrances were guarded my wardens. The girls got off pretty well. My mom threw 2 buckets of cold water on me (while my dad took pictures). The guys had to strip down and run around the perimeter of the building a couple of times.

Because we haven't been through enough

So ends Raisin Weekend, a mental, infamous St. Andrews tradition that can hardly be described in words. In 2 years time, I will be able to adopt and ensure that another generation of first years can have an equally memorable Raisin experience.








Note, in my first paragraph "last weekend" now actually means the last weekend in October. School got in the way of finishing this blog in a timely manner...