BLOGS

I was excited about Qatar since the day I got to know about Education City. I literally started counting days from the 17^th of May when I was officially admitted to Texas A&M University at Qatar; till the last few days of Ramazan. The interesting fact about my university Orientation is that we had two distinct orientations held, yes that means more food and double the fun. One was held by Qatar Foundation named Hamad Bin Khalifa University Orientation 2012, for all the branch campus students from Education City, and the other was held by Texas A&M University at Qatar, of course only for the privileged Aggies.

 

Prior to the HBKU orientation QF organized loads of fun events; this kicked off on the 23rd of August, especially for the incoming International Freshmen. These events helped us familiarize ourselves with the wonderful city of Doha. I was lucky enough to win the Scavenger Hunt competition held at the Doha City Center, which involved procuring different products from the stores in City Center as fast as we could. Finally on the 26^th of August we started off with the HBKU New Student Orientation 2012, at the Student Center Ball room in Education city.

 

 

 

It was a massive gathering with many parents joining in as well. The presentation of the Success stories of previous students instilled a burning desire to achieve in many of us. We were given ribbons on which we wrote our objective of attending one of the Universities in Education City, and each ribbon was tied on to a “humble” door as they called it. An exuberant lunch was followed by ice breakers which helped us know each other. The Orientation leaders used effective techniques to make sure we knew each other. To illustrate I was in a group of students assembled in a semi-circle, each one of us had to describe our name with an adjective, and the following person had to name every member preceding him. Obviously the last person was screwed; however, it helped us know each other better.

 

 

HBKU Orientation 2012, Guess How we stood out as Aggies?

TAMUQ tried not to take the beaten track by kicking off the 2012 Aggie Orientation ahead of other campuses on the 25^th of August. We were given a stack of Aggie goodies ahead before starting off the orientation (including the Shirt we wore at the HBKU Orientation). The Orientation was kicked off by the Dean’s speech at the Largest Lecture Hall on campus.  It was followed by a lavish lunch in which many parents participated as well.

 

The funniest and intriguing part of the orientation was how the seniors introduced themselves. I remember the President of the CODE (Council of Debating Engineers) who made weirdo gestures and yells, which made me, think he was retarded. But then we were told about the traditional Aggie Yell practice. Each category of students has a unique Yell, for example “The Class of 2016” (freshmen) yell “Aaaaa” raising their hands above their heads. This was unique, and the collective yell surely etched a spirit of unity amongst us. We did every yell practice until we perfected them. Last but not the least, throughout the Aggie Orientation the importance of the Aggie Honor Code was emphasized: “An Aggie does not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do.” Every aggie has to keep to this promise throughout his life, and I am certain that I will live up to the expectations of an aggie.

 

 

The Photo-shoot

Gig’em Aggies!