Think school orientation camp, and chances are you will think of fun team-building games where you forge new-found friendships.

I was therefore looking forward to my own orientation camp when I got accepted in April into the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School.

While Singapore was deep in a circuit breaker then and gatherings were not allowed, I was hoping that the Covid-19 situation would have improved by the time orientation rolled by in late July so that activities could resume.

Alas, it was not to be. When I learnt that we would have a virtual orientation instead, I could not help but feel disappointed as I value personal interactions in real life more. 

I started imagining how horrible a virtual orientation would be — an awkward group of strangers trying to get to know one another in a Zoom video conference call, with no real chemistry that you get from face-to-face interactions.

But I eventually told myself to make the most out of the current situation and signed up for the orientation. My expectations were low.

Instead of lasting the usual one week, e-orientation lasted only two days in late July. 

But surprisingly, the experience turned out to be better than I thought it would be.

Some 600 participants took part, and we were divided into 50 groups — mine consisted of 15 people.

On the first day, we had many “partner-up” sessions where we broke up into groups of twos and threes to share personal information such as our previous schools, our hobbies, and even weird facts about ourselves.

We also played other online games such as Among Us and Spyfall through which I got to know my orientation group members much better.  

By the second day, my orientation group had a good bond and the chemistry was clearly evident in a series of Amazing Race games resulting in us coming in 10th among the 50 orientation groups.

In one of the games called Telepathy, we were all given a word online and had to grab something in our home that we thought best represents the word. The aim was for as many of us to grab the same item as possible.

One of the words called out was Covid-19 and my entire group instinctively grabbed our face masks.

Then there was the Whisper Challenge, where we took turns to be given a word which we had to mouth while being muted online for the rest of the group to guess correctly.

This game was great fun and helped us to bond as we bounced answers off each other while trying to figure out the word.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself over the two days with friends whom I hope will stick by my side in the next four years in university.

I also found out that another female student from my orientation group lives near my home and will be moving into the same residential college as me. We decided to meet in person and got to know each other better.

We clicked right away as we realised we have quite a lot in common — we went to the same primary school and had similar experiences such as being school councillors in junior college.

Separately, my orientation group also met subsequently over supper, in accordance with safe-distancing measures, of course.

I am glad that I signed up for the orientation as it was an amazing experience. Another plus point is that I would now have someone familiar to turn to in case I feel lost when classes start.

I am truly impressed by how my seniors were able to overcome the odds and restrictions to create something meaningful for me and my fellow freshmen. 

It goes to show that personal connections are still possible during a time when so many meetings are virtual. 

Covid-19 has taken a mental and emotional toll on many in Singapore with all its restrictions. However, seeing how my seniors were able to overcome the odds to create hilarious and wholesome moments with my new-found friends changed my perspective.

It made me realise that it is up to individuals to define our own path. 

What the pandemic has done is push us out of our comfort zones to find our own way forward. If this exemplifies what being an NUS Business School student is all about, then I am proud to be one.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Anshul Chugh is a first-year student at NUS Business School. These are her own views.