Introduction to all what's been and is coming

Welcome one and all to International Hall – the largest, most populous and ‘glassiest’ hall of residence this side of the M25.
For the next 9 months, you are the proud owner of a WC1 postcode – so you better make the most of it before you move to a borough that hosted the 2011 riot olympics. To help you do this, your IH Club (or more accurately, the guy who had nothing else to do over Summer) has ‘lovingly’ compiled a guide to help you comprehend communal toilet etiquette, inform you of what time the so-called 24 hour Tescos stops serving hooch, and how to handle a conversation with a SOAS student.

On behalf of the IH Club, welcome to your new home.

Hemish Goodeal
IH Club Vice President 

Meet the Club

Against your will, you are now a member of the IH Club. Welcome! The Club is run by residents who either a) have nothing else to do or b) really need to buff up their CV.

But seriously, your Club is here to ensure that the hall does not feel like some crummy long-term Travelodge. We do this by organising parties, subsidised outings, sport events/tournaments, film screenings and informal gatherings on your behalf. Last year, on the recommendation of residents, we held a ‘free pizza party’ as well as a ‘free unlimited ice cream’ day (I guess last year’s residents were just really hungry).

In fact, if you have any idea/plan that you want to take hall-wide, let us know by using the suggestion box above the pigeon holes. Any suggestion will be considered as long as it will enhance the ‘social side’ of bringing residents together.

According to outdated tradition, the IH Club organises the following events every year:

• A beach-themed welcome party.
• A Halloween party.
• Decorating the IH Christmas tree, accompanied by mulled wine and mince pies for all who help
• A Christmas party featuring a guest appearance from Santa, sometimes held on the same night as the eagerly anticipated Christmas dinner.
• A Valentine’s party for the benefit of trying to get Harry a girlfriend.
• A boat party on the Thames for the main party of the IH year.
• A ‘farewell’ Summer BBQ in our delightful gardens.

The first few weeks of Freshers are the easiest times to mingle with fellow residents (despite repeating your name, college and course 700 times). During this time, the IH Club will be hosting these ‘thrilling’ events:

• Welcome Gathering 1: Sunday 18^th September (Main KCL moving in day), 7-9pm, Common Room – Need something else to do besides locking yourself in your room and crying yourself to sleep like I did last year? Then bring yourself (and more importantly your hooch) to the common room and meet your neighbours. The IH Club will be standing around awkwardly, providing you with all the free snacks, small talk and soft drinks you can handle.
• Welcome Gathering 2: Wednesday 21^st September, 7-9pm, Common Room - same as above.
• Welcome Gathering 3: Sunday 25^th September (Main UCL moving in day), 7-9pm, Common Room - same as above again.
• Welcome Gathering 4: Wednesday 28^th September, 7-9pm, Common Room - it’s getting repetitive now.
• The IH Beach Party: Friday 30^th September, 8pm onwards, Common Room – Don the swimming wear you brought but won’t wear again and join us for the first IH party of the year. Live DJ, a very-heavily subsidised bar, and prizes for the best dressed residents!
• The IH Annual Bloomsbury Treasure Hunt: Saturday 1^st October, 1:30pm onwards, starting in the Common Room – It’s not a literal treasure hunt, but you will be split into groups, given a map plus a set of clues and sent off into the world...of Bloomsbury. The clues will take you to a variety of spots within walking distance, and you must photograph your entire group to prove you have visited each clue. Here’s the catch: Extra points will be awarded to how well each group creatively and imaginatively poses for each photo. Plenty of prizes to be won.
• The ‘Freshers’ Quiz of Bel Air’: Sunday 2^nd October, 8pm onwards, Common Room – Okay, it’s essentially a ‘pub quiz’ and dosn’t really have much to do with the Fresh Prince, but you try and come up with a cheesier name. Anyway, this isn’t just any bog standard lager-lout quiz about Coronation Street. We’ve thrown in countless ‘picture-rounds’, ‘music-rounds’, ‘pictures of music video-rounds’, a ‘how well do you know London-round’ and a somewhat self-obsessed ‘University of London-round’. Basically, this quiz gets rid of the usual inane questions, and replaces them with.....slightly more relevant inane questions.....either way, they’ll be prizes for the winning team, the runners-up and the embarrassing loser. Teams will be sorted on the night and guests are welcome.
• The Postgrad Speed Meetings: 3 of them just like in Speed Dating, but without the dating, meeting random postgrads at IH who might be your friends.
• And the Postgrads Pizza Night: A crazy night to gather in the common room for postgrads, have you discovered it yet?
• Oh and there is bound to be every year a super Karaoke party for ALL!

Along with the help of the Senior Members, we also organise the following events. Even though you can’t miss them, keep an eye on the posters for upcoming events:

• The IH Cinema: Every Wednesday and Sunday in the IH Cinema. That’s right, you have a cinema in your basement. How often do you get to say that? Obviously, we don’t show films currently in the cinema - that would be illegal. But our cinema conveners go out of their way to ensure that we get the latest releases as soon as humanly possible, as well as showing films that you suggest to us. All films are obtained from a huge online library, so if you fancy watching a geeky Star Wars marathon or want to revert back to childhood and watch a few Disney films, just let our cinema conveners know!
• Book, Cook and News: the IH Discussion Group: Every Saturday at 10am in the Conservatory, starting on the 8th October. Come and chat about a short article, recipe or world news each week over biscuits (and the occasional waffle). Bring a cup of tea and don’t be shy – we are always happy to see new faces and postgraduate students are especially welcome.
• Yoga: Held weekly in the basement. Give your mind and body a rest from studying with weekly yoga sessions hosted by a trained instructor. All our welcome and you can drop in at any time. Keep an eye out for posters for more information.
• IH Various Sports: With 800 residents from all corners of the world, we could throw our own Olympics if we wanted to! But there’s not enough space in Brunswick Square, so instead, we organise formal tournaments and clubs using our squash court and table tennis...table. Our sports convener will also organise a variety of outdoor sporting events throughout the year, so again, keep an eye on posters for more information.
• London Outings: I dare you to try and run out of things to do in London. I dare you. The city has a lot to offer, but do you know what’s better than outings in London? DISCOUNTED outings in London. In the past we have gone botanical at Kew Gardens, walked along the steps of Harry Potter, fallen over at the Somerset House ice rink and cried at a few West-End productions. All subsidised by International Hall. Keep an eye out for posters for more information.
• Postgrad Dinners: Every months postgrad dinners are hosted in the conservatory, each one exploring a different cuisine of one of the many nationalities that make up International Hall. Please look out for the posters for more information.
• Family Parties: Throughout the year, a variety of parties will be held for families with special treats for the kids.
• The IH Times: Always first with the news, or equally happy resorting to cheap jokes, the IH Times aims to bring residents the best International Hall can offer. It has been a pillar of International Hall society since it was founded in 1989 and is today published at least monthly - or whenever the editors can be bothered to spend all night making stuff up. This high quality paper is available for free at reception. Unless the editors have angered the Bursar in which case it's available near reception. A full archive of issues from 2003 onwards is on display in the lower ground floor of IH or available on the International Hall website.

Like everything else these days, the best place to perv on what events are going on is to check out Facebook. When you get bored of stalking your ex, just join the ‘International Hall 2011-2012 (Offical)’ group.