I arrived at the main building a couple of minutes early since my Chinese class finished a bit before. I was shocked to see the transformation of the lecture hall! Instead of rows of desks there where ample tables with wine glasses and actual silverware! The room was decorated in a Broadway theme and each one of the 500+ attendees had an assigned seat with their name on it.
The ceremony started when the esteemed guests arrived and we all sat down in our respective spots. We sang the hall song (which was extremely cheesy) and heard a speech from the school Vice-Chancelor. Later on we ate a multiple-course dinner comprised by a plate of ham and salami, mushroom soup, our choice between fish or steak, blueberry cheesecake and tea or coffee. We also had the option to drink white or red wine. Interesting options considering the school no-alcohol tolerance policy.
After the dinner was over, the representative of Hong Kong in Beijing gave the longest speech I have heard on my life and then proceeded to some Q&A with sub-speeches. It was so long that I fell asleep for a big portion of it.
We proceeded to take pictures by floor and then headed out. They where very strict with attendance. You had to check-in and check-out. It turns out that if you miss 3 in the entire year, you are banned from living in the dorms for the upcoming semester. Since I am only here for one semester I could not care less, so I will probably skip the following ones unless they change their policy of speech durations.
Overal, it was a great experience since it forced you to bond with all of your hall-mates as well as get to meet new people. The US dorms should think about enforcing it.
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