It's orientation day at St. Bart's, and the class of 2000 has been herded into the auditorium for a welcome speech from the dean. John looks around the room and can't help but feel intimidated. It seems that everyone already knows each other. He overhears some of his classmates talking about their backgrounds: many of them have parents and grandparents who graduated from Bart's or families where everyone is a doctor.
He can't help but roll his eyes when he hears the girls behind him talk about spending their gap year traveling. (Wonder how they'll react when they find out I spent my gap year slinging fish and chips at The Codfather?)
Just when he thinks he has no hope of fitting in, a dark-haired bloke with glasses sits next to him and introduces himself as Mike Stamford. Like John, Mike is from a working-class background and hopes to be the first doctor in his family.
Later in the day, the first-years are taken on a campus tour by upperclassmen. A few of the girls in John and Mike's tour group look condescendingly at the way the two of them are dressed and whisper to each other.
John's greatest fear is that his classmates will never take him seriously.