Oppaa! (Simone)

“Simone? That’s you, yeah? I think they’ve put you on the wrong table,” a girl in a sleek black dress had tapped her red fingernails on the list of names. “There must have been a mix up… I’m so sorry.” I stared at the list of names on my new table, realising suddenly that I didn’t recognise any of them at all! My friends and I swapped nervous glances. Couldn’t I just squeeze a chair onto the other table? “No, it wouldn’t fit,” the girl had said, apologetically.

So, yes! A brilliant start to my much anticipated first ever-uni event, and surely one I will always remember: the time I stood in a foyer of a dressy reception, already dazzled by the atmosphere – the girls in gorgeous cocktail dresses, the guys in their ties and shirts, the set out tables, loud music – and felt my stomach drop, realising that for the entire Greek Tavern Night dinner, I would be sitting on a table of strangers! It’s almost a bit of a nightmare to envisage arriving to an event to find out that you will be removed from the comfort of your friends. That, after all your preparations, new-dress buying, wondering, excitement, you will be placed on a table full of random people that already know each other! And very quickly, I can assure you, all that excitement you had becomes dread, and you just hope it’s not all too awkward, and you have to convince yourself that somehow it will all be okay!

Gripping onto my coat too tightly, I’d approached the table of strangers, who all looked a couple of years older than I, and jumped into a pause in their conversation. “Sorry… I was put on this table by accident…” I’d stammered. They stared. “I’ll just sit here on the end,” I said, hurriedly, cheeks burning (I probably resembled a tomato – very beautiful). Then, one of the guys spoke up, motioning to a different seat. He smiled, eyes twinkling. “Feel free to join into the conversation, too!”

I tell you now, lovely reader, I restrained myself from giving him a hug. Sometimes, all you need is someone to say something small to make you feel like you’re going to be okay. The rare kind word from a stranger is like a single breath of fresh, cool air on a stinking hot day – it doesn’t completely solve all your issues, but you’re thanking god it existed!

I’m not sure that I’m a big believer in “everything happens for a reason”, or in “fate”, but that night I decided that believing in “fate” was a bit of a good coping mechanism, because maybe I was somehow meant to become friends with the people on that table, that it was “meant to be”. It’s a romantic idea when you consider things like the chance meeting of lovers, or of those amazing coincidences that seem like they could only be miracles, but then not such an attractive philosophy when you put it to all the awful things that happen in our world, like murders and wars and poverty… that doesn’t happen because it’s fate too, right? It’s interesting…

But you know what? Whether it was fate or just how it was, I ended up meeting some really lovely, funny people! The guys to my left entertained me with their tipsy chatter, about how they all knew eachother, their plans, and didn’t blink an eyelid at the fact that they were put with a random first-year, as if I was some sort of old friend or something. They were well kind enough to offer to grab me a new drink, and always included me in conversation, so (though maybe it was the wine…) I never really felt awkward being on the random table! I still got to have a fantastic dance and catchup with my friends – we joined in both the traditional dancing (having no idea what we were doing, so that my foot movements were random side steps that I tried to make look complicated out of embarrassment that everyone else around seemed to know exactly how to do it!) and then we pretended we knew exactly what the Greek pop music lyrics were all about later on, with the DJ. The food was good – and, more to the point, alcohol free and unlimited! – though I was disappointed there wasn’t any dessert… (what is a formal occasion without chocolate, people?!).

So – my first uni event didn’t go exactly to plan. But, never mind the table fiasco, I would definitely go again! We were all still dancing to the Greek tunes in the early hours of the morning, joined by a few of my new table friends. And, in the flashing lights and thumping music, we laughed and swayed, the best way to let go of all of that exam stress and give a final salute to semester 1. Oppaa!

 

(N.B: My god, holidays are amazing!)