Orientation: Day 1
This post is coming in two installments because it's a million light years long and I wouldn't want to do that to you. I'm trying to minimize the casualties here.
Here is day one, written around midnight from a dorm room somewhere in Philly...
I never thought I'd say this but so far orientation has been amazing. The day started off with me getting my stuff (key to the dorm and student ID as well as my room assignment) at registration and then my mom and aunt dropping me off at Johnson and Hardwick Hall where I made a fool of myself on multiple occasions by trying to go in through the exit, not being able to take my badge out of its plastic holder, flailing my stuff around (purse, bag, pillow, sleeping bag, student ID, lanyard...) trying to get out the piece of paper that had my room assignment on it to show one of the Owl Team Leaders so he could tell me where to go, not being able to find the stairwell and then being like "Hey do you guys have any idea where the stairs are?" and they were like "Um I think it's over here" so I followed them and found my dorm room on the second floor and it was like a million thousand degrees and I was sweating buckets so I dumped my stuff on my bed and went outside and jumped onto a group heading to the performing arts center where we had a VERY long series of presentations that I can't even remember what they were about before we broke into small groups. My group leader was named James and he led us over to the humanities buildings where we sat in a circle on this patch of grass between the buildings and played a game where we said a food and then our name and then we had to say the food with the name of all the people who came before us (ex: I would say "Jelly Bean James, Coconut Caroline, Salami Sarah"). We then did some rounds of "speed dating" before playing this super confusing game called Contact which I didn't really like. But at least nothing was embarrassing. Everyone was super nice and we were all in the honors program and liberal arts majors so we had that in common. After our small group session we had an honors luncheon (the food was super good) before we headed back to TPAC (Temple Performing Arts Center) for more lectures on safety and policies and stuff. Then we got back in our small groups and sat outside on a patch of grass just asking James questions. James, like me, is majoring in English and minoring in Spanish, and, like me was a "country bumpkin" before coming to Philly. He was kind of aloof and didn't seem to really like us half the time but other than that he was just nerdy and nice. I talked to everyone in the group, except the one guy who joined mid-day. One girl was from Baltimore so we bonded over our shared Maryland homeland.
Here is day one, written around midnight from a dorm room somewhere in Philly...
I never thought I'd say this but so far orientation has been amazing. The day started off with me getting my stuff (key to the dorm and student ID as well as my room assignment) at registration and then my mom and aunt dropping me off at Johnson and Hardwick Hall where I made a fool of myself on multiple occasions by trying to go in through the exit, not being able to take my badge out of its plastic holder, flailing my stuff around (purse, bag, pillow, sleeping bag, student ID, lanyard...) trying to get out the piece of paper that had my room assignment on it to show one of the Owl Team Leaders so he could tell me where to go, not being able to find the stairwell and then being like "Hey do you guys have any idea where the stairs are?" and they were like "Um I think it's over here" so I followed them and found my dorm room on the second floor and it was like a million thousand degrees and I was sweating buckets so I dumped my stuff on my bed and went outside and jumped onto a group heading to the performing arts center where we had a VERY long series of presentations that I can't even remember what they were about before we broke into small groups. My group leader was named James and he led us over to the humanities buildings where we sat in a circle on this patch of grass between the buildings and played a game where we said a food and then our name and then we had to say the food with the name of all the people who came before us (ex: I would say "Jelly Bean James, Coconut Caroline, Salami Sarah"). We then did some rounds of "speed dating" before playing this super confusing game called Contact which I didn't really like. But at least nothing was embarrassing. Everyone was super nice and we were all in the honors program and liberal arts majors so we had that in common. After our small group session we had an honors luncheon (the food was super good) before we headed back to TPAC (Temple Performing Arts Center) for more lectures on safety and policies and stuff. Then we got back in our small groups and sat outside on a patch of grass just asking James questions. James, like me, is majoring in English and minoring in Spanish, and, like me was a "country bumpkin" before coming to Philly. He was kind of aloof and didn't seem to really like us half the time but other than that he was just nerdy and nice. I talked to everyone in the group, except the one guy who joined mid-day. One girl was from Baltimore so we bonded over our shared Maryland homeland.
Dinner was delicious but it was almost impossible to find a seat. There were a million tables but every one of them was taken. I was beyond thankful that I was with four other girls in my group trying to find a seat instead of all alone. For the most part we all kind of hung out together for all of orientation so even though we weren't best buds we had each other, which was nice.
After dinner we went to the student center where they had a magic show (I know, how lame) and then we could go off and do whatever we wanted in the student center. A few girls from my group and I went downstairs and got pizza and cookies and then went upstairs and made PBJ sandwiches for homeless people. It was so much fun. I know that sounds weird but it was awesome. We made almost 500 sandwiches. It was there that I met Meera, who lives in Waynesboro which is like 15 minutes from home. We wound up hanging out for the rest of the night and walking back to J&H together and exchanged phone numbers. She was also on the second floor but had come late to orientation and didn't know where her room was so I showed her the hidden stairwell and then just as we neared her room we saw her roommate go into her room just wearing a towel so she was like "Um is it okay if I hang out in your room for a bit? I don't want to walk in on her changing..." So she hung out in my room and then my roommate showed up and we introduced ourselves and then my roommate was like "Okay I'm gonna get a shower. I feel like I should just change out of my clothes here and wear a towel. I'm naked all the time. Nakedness doesn't bother me." And I'm just like "Ummm it bothers meeee" but I just turned around and pretended to be rearranging the contents of my purse for ten minutes while she disrobed. It was so awkward. I mean, kudos to you for being super comfortable with your body but that doesn't mean I have to be comfortable with seeing it!!!!!!!!! Dorm life is weird. After my roommate and Meera left I got my stuff together and braved the communal bathrooms...which were surprisingly not that bad. By "not that bad" I mean "I didn't die". Just kidding, they really were fine. Much nicer than outdoor school. But I'm glad I won't have to deal with them!!
(Then I fell asleep and hence stopped writing. It was an uneventful night of sleep, except for the few times that I woke up to the sound of my after 1AM. She said that she was "scheduling for classes" but I don't know where or why because we were scheduling the next day...She was a perfectly nice girl but I don't foresee us becoming best buds.)
(Side note: I love how I started the post of with how amazing orientation had been and then went on to describe it in a way that makes it seem super less-than-amazing. You have to understand that I had zero expectations going into this so the fact that I hadn't cried or wanted to cry all day and that I had found people that I could talk to and latch onto for an entire day was enough to make it seem amazing.)
Day 971 Song Recommendation: "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5. I'm not a huge Maroon 5 fan but this song was playing while we were making PBJs and it just fit the mood and I liked it at the time, so here it is.
-SE Wagner
(Side note: I love how I started the post of with how amazing orientation had been and then went on to describe it in a way that makes it seem super less-than-amazing. You have to understand that I had zero expectations going into this so the fact that I hadn't cried or wanted to cry all day and that I had found people that I could talk to and latch onto for an entire day was enough to make it seem amazing.)
Day 971 Song Recommendation: "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5. I'm not a huge Maroon 5 fan but this song was playing while we were making PBJs and it just fit the mood and I liked it at the time, so here it is.
-SE Wagner
Comments
Post a Comment