"Boom, boom, boom, boom -- I want you in my room": Surviving university life in the 21st century. (Generation now).

To the pounding bass line of a song by the Vengaboys, hundreds of first-year students (frosh) at the University of Toronto's (U of T) downtown campus experienced Carnival Day on September 7. Students roamed through pavilions filled with displays by student clubs and other organizations. They were looking for different things but, perhaps, most of all, they were after "Free Stuff!": from deodorant and condoms to Freezies and Bibles on CD. If it was free, it didn't last long.

I've always been fascinated by Carnival Day. It represents university life in so many ways -- the good, the bad and the ugly. There's a scene that stands out in my mind from the movie Chariots of Fire. The new students at Cambridge, or one of those sherry-soaked, ivy-covered English schools, are at their 1920s equivalent of Carnival Day. They move slowly -- and contemplatively -- from the Classics Society to the Empire Club. They are gentlemen and scholars in seriously starched collars, every one of them.

But this is 2001. And with "boom, boom, boom, boom" ringing in our ears and frosh lining up in droves for their first credit card, things have changed.

Confusion and choice rule at Carnival Day. It's crowded, and the number of groups present is overwhelming. Students are still finding their way around in all sorts of ways! They have the freedom to choose like never before, but they're confused and some are feeling isolated.

As Bob Shantz, Lutheran chaplain at U of T, put it: "On this day, people are here for survival. They're here looking for community and wondering who they can trust."

The university gives you a number when you register. What comes next is getting to know people so that life isn't reduced to a sequence of impersonal trips from home to classes and back again. With tuition going through the roof and teaching quality seemingly low on the agenda, there's solidarity in surviving when the system doesn't seem to care.

Of course, there's also solidarity in beer. Consume large quantities of alcohol in a group, and your friendship problems are suddenly -- and temporarily -- gone. For some frosh, that's part of the orientation ritual. But there's more meaningful common ground out there. A greater number of students find community and extra-curricular life in groups formed around ethnicity, area of study, religion, sports, political activism, philanthropy, leisure and many others. And it's all yours to discover.

So you've always wanted to experience harmony with nature through nudism, you say? You could join the Naturist Club. You're interested in Jewish mysticism? A Kabbalist Society started last year. The ethnomusicology students have their own club, too. With over 200 student groups at U of T, there really is something for everyone.

As I wandered through the expanse of groups, for a moment I heard a different kind of music: "You are my strength when I am weak, you are the treasure that I seek ... Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name." Aha! I whirled about, with my spidey sense tingling like crazy. "Christians!" I surmised. Sure enough, the Chinese Christian Fellowship with worship tunes blaring was only the tip of the iceberg. By the end of the day, I had counted nine separate tables with Christian groups.

There are at least 35 religious or faith-based groups at U of T -- almost 20 per cent of the total. And more keep appearing. Christian groups are the most numerous; but every other major world religion, as well as the New Age in multiple manifestations, is here as well.

Deanne Fischer, from the university's Student Affairs office, commented: "We used to think of students coming to university to get away from home and reinvent themselves, often by rebelling ... But, lately, we see more people finding their identity in faith, looking for something with deeper roots." She mentioned this is most apparent among Muslim students. The Muslim Students Association is a large, active group; it is also not splintered into nine or more different chapters.

At the end of Carnival Day, one major theme comes to the surface: every student is a consumer and getting stuff. "Free Stuff!" motivates them. I found myself wondering how Jesus would join in with these crowds. Would he overturn the tables of the VISA money-lenders (and forgive all our debts?) or would he draw a crowd to himself by multiplying the Freezies and teaching about his Kingdom ("Boom, boom, boom, boom -- I have prepared for you a room")?

I can't say I know but, as the dance music faded, another song (with less bass guitar) came to mind: "Freely, freely, you have received; freely, freely, give; go in my name and because you believe, others will know that I live."

There's free stuff and, then, there's freedom -- if you know what I mean.

Alex MacLeod, a part-time student at Knox College, Toronto, works with university and young adult ministries at Knox Church, Toronto, and has a field education placement with the Record.