As an alumnus of Brookes, I remember my own Fresher’s Week with fondness.

I went to precisely the same venue on the same night an alarming five years ago.

On returning to the Student Union, my first impressions of the enormous SU venue was that nothing had changed in the slightest, but sadly I was mistaken.

An item of news that may have passed you by in recent times is that we are going through something of a global recession (it’s understandable if you haven’t heard about it, it hasn’t had much coverage...).

The effect has been felt in everyone’s pocket, though curiously (naively?) I had assumed that there were some areas of life that would remain mercifully unaffected.

Which I guess is why I felt so frustrated to discover that even during Fresher’s Week, the SU has been unable to provide their newest patrons with better prices than the pubs in town.

Indicative of the times perhaps, but a recession-struck Fresher’s Week is a sad sight to behold.

That said, the latest academic influx don’t seem to mind the prices one bit, and every one of these fresh-faced young things is fully dressed up, ready to drink their own weight in beer and dance the night away.

Tonight’s entertainment is Headphone Disco, which anyone who’s ever been to a festival will probably be familiar with under the guise of Silent Disco.

The idea, for the uninitiated, is that everyone is issued with headphones through which the music for the night is played by two DJs who spin simultaneously, giving people the ability to choose which DJ they want to listen to.

It’s both a novel concept and a proven success, and tonight is no different as the DJs battle it out for the adulation of the hugely receptive crowd.

The eeriest aspect of the Headphone Disco is watching people dance without wearing the headphones.

Dancing is of course always tremendously silly, but watching people dance to silence is bizarre, amusing and overwhelmingly creepy.

To really enjoy the event though, the headphones are a must and will provide you with a night that is both innovative and enormous fun.

The only trouble I can see is that ‘pulling’ at a Headphone Disco must be near impossible as the headphones necessarily prevent you from being able to chat anyone up, but where there’s a will there’s a way and I’m certain that if anyone can pull at an event like this, it’s a fresher (probably a fresher who happens to be an astonishingly brilliant dancer).

All in all, the Headphone Disco was a great night and a fun and friendly welcome to Oxford’s newest inhabitants.

I only wish the prices were as welcoming...