So, orientation was good not great. It was awkward and full of strangers and a bagillion degrees of stifling hotness, and even though I met quite a lot of people, I wasn't really able to find a crowd to stick with for the whole thing, at least not in my group of purple people. I never realized until now how much danger we were in from the one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater. Well anyway, everyone in my group survived.
I got there with a small suitcase and snoopy pillow filled with sudoku books, sock monkeys, and my laptop. It was a sea of check-in lines, excited parents, and exhausted teenagers, most of which, myself included, were honors students. We had our pictures taken and our student ID's were made which was pretty awesome because our ID's are our ticket to our entire college. They are how you get in and out of buildings, how you buy food, and how you have guests over to your dorm. It was an enthralling moment ruined by underwhelmed reactions from the other orienteers.
From there we were crowded into buses and sent from the harborside campus, where the culinary students live and learn, down to the downcity campus, where the business students do their business, which is where we were all going to sleep. On the bus we were filling out a survey, and stupid girls were like "Am I going to drink at college? Heck yes, who would put no to that." I answered No. And then I made a mental mugshot of them both. If you didn't know already, I am not a partier. So, don't be reading this blog thinking its all about partying just because I'm now a college student. This blog's main topic should be, will be, is? Food. Also, my college is a dry campus, but that doesn't really mean anything to stupid people who don't understand what that means.
We dropped off all of our stuff, I had one roommate who seemed very nice, and then our schedule said we were going to have breakfast. On the way out we passed a table of muffins and bagels, and I thought, "This is a culinary school, so their real breakfast will be awesome. I'm gonna wait for that." However, that
was breakfast so I started my day on zero fuel except for some apple juice. We smooshed back into our air conditioned buses and were sent to be talked at and given placement exams, which were not as bad as they sound except that my throat was HATING us going from hot and humid to dry and cold and decided once everybody started taking their test and being really quiet, THAT was when it should tickle and make me cough super loud. I did pretty well in both the math and english section, so I was made to write an essay, which I do not mind because I had an awesome english teacher in high school and I really enjoy writing and having opinions and stuff. Only problem was this essay was graded by a computer. I don't understand that; my brain can not process how a computer can accurately score such a unique, complex thing. I scored one less point than needed to move out of an intro english class and I can't help but blame the computer for not being human enough.
We were all stuck in a couple of rooms to wait for a meeting with our academic advisor and get uniform fittings. As a culinary school we must all wear uniforms, something that I've been doing for the past 13 years of my schooling. They're pretty strict about it because they want to make sure we know to be respectful, put together, and clean when in the kitchen. It makes a lot of sense, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I was shocked and excited to find I was a small shirt and extra small pants, having thought I was medium in both. I suppose I am rather short and petite.
Then, we were all late for our fancy honors student / parent luncheon. So we all had to power walk to buses and then through this really nice hotel into a normal sized elevator, but we were squishing fifteen people into it in order to have less trips for the other students. It was on the seventeenth floor and all seventeen floors were awkwardly uncomfortable to ride through. Being late, very few of us actually got to sit with our parents at the student / parent luncheon. Luckily, I had found a friend, a mousy girl who did crew for her drama club in high school, much like me. We had turkey sandwiches on croissants, a very tasty tortellini salad in a sort of pesto, and for dessert a chocolate mousse that was so light and fluffy, it could have been chocolate air, and it was bowled in a fancy milk and white chocolate flower.
From there, we were moved and talk at again by the Dean of the culinary school. He seemed super nice and really funny, and, as my parents pointed out later, he seems like a good person to get to know and become friends with for college. After that we all went outside and played a few games to pass the time. One was called bang bang and involved shooting each other by saying "bang bang bang..." until you ran out of breath. Then we played a game that was surprisingly a lot of fun called catch and release where everyone puts up their left hand like they're holding a platter and then points their right hand into your neighbors left hand. The person in charge then yells "Go!" and everyone tries to catch their neighbors finger with their left hand while trying not to get caught by their other neighbor. It was very fun.
Finally, we split into our groups and had some ice breakers: "I'm Sam and I'm bringing Salad to our picnic. That's Christina and she's bringing Cupcakes..." Then, we hung out in our rooms until it was our turn to have dinner, which is when I found out I had another roommate. We played spit and listened to music. It was jolly good fun. Then, it was time for dinner so I went outside to wait for the rest of my group but no other purple people were there. Not even the orientation leaders. I feared that they had been devoured by the previously mentioned monster. So I waited for fifteen minutes talking with some other orienteers, and then I panicked thinking I would not be able to eat dinner and would starve in my bed tonight. However, I went over to the dining hall and was let in by some student who was eating and found my mousy friend who was sitting with some other people from her highlighter yellow group, and I was able to eat something. Afterwards we went outside to sit on the grass and talk, and I flail when I talk and had to explain myself. I talk with my hands and am very expressive and dramatic, so I may have freaked quite a lot of people out.
Then we went back to the big field we had played games on after talking to the Dean and played more games and a few people from each group shared any special talents they had. One girl from our group could blow bubbles off of her tongue, very little ones that would float down heavily and pop very fast, but still it was awesome. I was impressed. Then, we all went inside to hang out. You could go into a room with no lights and have your eardrums blown out and possibly end up "dancing" with a total stranger, you could watch some movie with Adam Sandler therefore deeming it a stupid movie, you could play basketball or volleyball in the auditorium which would only highlight my lack of athleticism, or you could play pool and air hockey which was AWESOME! I love pool. I played a couple of games with two other girls with us versing three guys. It was very fun and there was lots of playful teasing and competition. It was the best part of all of orientation.
I went back to our room on the earlier bus with a pint of Phish Food ice cream and a new friend. We went back to my room and watch youtube videos and played card games. Her roommates were the stupid girls from the bus who were planing on having a huge party in their room though she was not a partier. So I made sure she was welcome in our dorm. I went to sleep fairly early, leaving my other roommates a note about not worrying about waking me up. I woke up at around three, coughing and sneezing. I camped out in the bathroom for a bit, but we had no tissues or toilet paper or trash can, so it was very difficult to blow my nose. I took more cough syrup and then felt bad for my roommate (our other roommate was still out, she knew people and wound up sleeping in their room) and went outside to play sudoku in the hallway and wake everyone else up on the floor.
Day Two later this week
