Annie Bowyer
EYP is one of those things that you cannot really explain to someone unless they have experienced it themselves. When your 'non-EYP' friends ask about your weekend there is no conclusive answer and having experienced this a few times, I know that EYP is something that nobody prepares you for, until now; welcome to your EYP guide.
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| Taken by Daire Horgan |
Making friends
Team-building might seem like the most daunting part of the entire weekend, but it is also the most fun. EYP makes making friends easy by having to immerse yourself into a crazy experience from the minute you arrive; from standing in a circle shouting “A rum pum pum” and tickling the chin of the person to your right, to bopping someone on the head with a newspaper as a way to learn their name. The best way to enjoy your weekend is to go for it in team-building, I met some of my best friends through building a tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows, and if you let yourself get fully involved you will have a new group of friends and a whole load of Snapchat adds within a few hours.
Committee work
“Working together to get the job done” – Bob the Builder, 1998. By the time committee work comes around you will have all bonded, and discussing your topic and making a resolution will make you ridiculously protective. Watch how your face frowns when someone attacks your resolution during General Assembly, how into your committee chant you get and how you truly believe your committee is the best committee in the world. Your resolution becomes something you are incredibly proud of and worked hard to produce, so when someone picks on something wrong you will probably take it personally.
Sleep deprivation
It is inevitable. It isn’t an EYP weekend unless you are getting a little less sleep than usual. The early starts get to us all but as a wise Troy Bolton once said, “we’re all in this together”. Power through, it is completely worth it.
Post-EYP blues
This is something nobody can prepare you for. When the closing ceremony ends and it is time to leave the little bubble you have experienced over the past few days. You miss your friends, you miss your chair, you miss discussing your topic, you even miss the crazy energisers you were reluctant to take part in on day one. Whilst it has only been a short weekend, the memories you made with people who were strangers just a few days ago will stay with you and the committee group chat will remain wild for weeks to come.