Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

Being a “rite of passage” for Y1 students, the so-called Baptizing party (BP) offers newcomers to go through various tasks and challenges, proving their ability to be real SSE Riga people. For some reasons, these “challenges” have been always associated with mudding people and daring them to drink some explosive mix of different degree alcoholic beverages. Fortunately or not, this year’s party was free of the former, while the latter was just an insignificant part of the whole process. The title theme was “Disco”, so a lot of 70s-style dancing was involved. Let’s see what happened on that day;)

What happened

“Study skills” – preparing some dance performances;

Drinking contest;

Going to Kronvalda Park – playing various games (take a thing from a passerby, exchanging an egg without your hands, final dancing in front of House of Congress);

Evening – party in Disco style

At first, Y1 schedule was adjusted, with the unexpected “Study Skills” added as the last lecture of October 2. Some gossip about it being a part of BP did not manage to spoil the fun: many people were still surprised that the lecture was an introductory part of the party. Actually, it was not a lecture at all: Diana Pauna was quickly replaced with several Y2 students who announced the disco-style dancing contest and began calling random teams or individuals to the stage. It has to be said that Y1 students had been asked to prepare some dance performances in advance, but, of course, hardly anybody took it seriously. That resulted in hilarious impromptu dances, after which the students were really in a good mood.

The dancing contest was followed by a classic drinking competition in which the participants had to drink around 0.5 l each; in that case, it was a mix of champagne, beer, and vodka. Afterwards, the students were led to Kronvalda Park, where they had to do various tasks such as passing an apple without one’s hands, asking passing by people for coins and condoms, and, of course, perform different disco-dancing moves. The whole action was finished in front of the House of Congresses with a really vast dance performance – all the participants gathered in a wide circle around a boom box and showed Riga that disco’s not dead 

In high spirits, successfully initiated Y1s returned to the school and then went each their own way. The main part was finished, but the evening party promised to be an exciting one. It began at around 10 pm and lasted until the deep night. The dress-code was obviously disco-like, so it was the night of flared trousers and afro hairstyles. 

What was good

Dancing performances during fake “Study Skills” – students’ enthusiasm was still high, and we saw some really outstanding dances (i.e. funny as hell ;-) 

It was really much fun in Kronvalda Park, especially in front of the House of Congresses. That’s where the true unity between Y1 students was shown. 

What was not so good

Overall, the contests and the tasks were not really original. Of course, they work every year with a newer generation of SSE Riga people, but this is not an excuse for such a lack of creativity.

There were no significant prizes for the competition winners.

The evening party was not really in disco style. In other words, there was around half an hour of disco music which was then replaced by the standard set of current hits (Rhianna etc.). And there were no dancing contests whatsoever, which were really bad, considering people’s unusual outfit and willingness to show their disco skills.

All in all, the Y0s have become the real Y1 at last!

By Vladimirs Zlotnikovs