Everyone knows that at Oxford academic work can be a challenge. To help deal with this, sometimes we need to put down our pens, close our laptops, and leave the library. The student entertainment or 'Entz' reps then have the perfect evening lined up: Bops. We have Bops (stands for Big Organised Parties) two or three times a term and they’re massive fancy dress parties for the whole college.
A Bop night starts down the College bar where everyone meets in their fancy dress. Usually this is the most civilised part of the evening although tempers can flare over the awarding of the illustrious best costume prize. The theme for our three Bops this term have been BNSea, B.C., and CBBC (all sharing a very tenuous Brasenose, or 'BNC' link). For the CBBC Bop people had to come as their favourite childhood TV show and lots of the best costumes were big group ones. Drinks in the bar are really cheap (they get subsidised by College), we play whatever music we want, and it is generally a nice comfy, social place to be.
At about 10.30pm we all head over to Plush for the real fun. Plush is a good, small club less than 10 minutes walk from College and because we rent it for the night it’s just Brasenose people in there. This is probably what I like most about Bops; on a normal club night you’ll have great time with your friends but it is only at Bops that I can look around and know absolutely everyone and talk to or dance with anyone there. They represent such a rare opportunity for the whole College community to come together and celebrate each other.
Absolutely anyone can DJ at Bops and each person's set usually lasts about 30 or 45 minutes depending on how many people fancy giving it a go that night. Entz have DJ decks and all the necessary equipment so if anyone wants to practice beforehand or just fancies a play around they can borrow anything. At our CBBC Bop we had four new DJs on display and their styles varied from clicking play on a pre-prepared 30min mp3 file to attempting to micromanage all the transitions. All different genres of music get represented with Disco and Cheese usually being good crowd pleasers for the end of the night.
It’s not just Bops that Entz puts on though. We organise anything and everything from BNC Take Me Out (the highlight of anyone’s Valentine’s day) to Easter egg hunts in College. For many people, Collections cocktails (a sort of party/drinks reception help after exams that is very hard to explain- you’ll have to come here yourself to find out) is the highlight of the term. If there is fun to be had, Entz will be there. When I finally leave Brasenose, of all the wonderful things that go on, I think I’ll miss Bops the most.
By Joey Fisher (Second year Biochemistry student)