New Experiences

On Thursday and Friday, I had my orientation at Kent State. I scheduled my first semester classes, met some of my future classmates, and slept in a dorm that didn't have anything air conditioning! The whole thing was a bit of an information overload, but I had a good time. Here's how a typical orientation works:

1. Arrive on campus at 7:30 am

2. Sign in and put your stuff in the dorm you'll be staying in for the night

3. Go get your picture taken for your university I.D. card (which you will have for the next 4 years)

4. Sit in a big room and listen to people talk.

5. Get escorted to a smaller room with just your fellow students and listen to people talk.

6. Be reunited with your parents for lunch.

7. Go listen to some more people talk, this time in an auditorium

8. Come back to the first place you listened to people talk and listen some more!

9. Say goodbye to your parents because they go home after this.

10. Go take a math and a foreign language placement test that you didn't know about

11. Eat dinner

12. Have yet another seminar you have to sit through.

13. Hang out for about 2 hours and go to bed (in a dorm with no air conditioning)

Here's what happens the next morning!

1. Wake up at 7.

2. Pack up your stuff and check out of your room.

3. Eat breakfast.

4. Go to your advising appointment and schedule your classes

5. Meet up with your parents and listen to one more seminar

6. Walk around campus finding all of the buildings your classes are in (or in my case, look at a map and point to the general direction in which the building is)

7. Again, in my case, drive to downtown Kent, walk around, and find a nice place to have lunch.

8. Fall asleep on the car ride home.

This probably makes me sound a little cynical, but I just didn't feel like orientation gave me a good representation of what going to school at Kent is going to be like. They pack in a lot of stuff over a day and a half, and it's hard trying to process and remember it all. Trust me, I still want to go there, but I think I'll have more fun at Welcome Weekend when I move in (to a dorm room that has air conditioning, and it's own private shower!) I'm really excited to go, but at the moment, it's something that I don't always like thinking about. It's a big, kind of scary step in my life. I sometimes wonder if I'm going to be ready for it. But then I remember how far I've come so far. I've done things and gone places most kids my age will never get to do, and that's pretty awesome! I am very fortunate to be where I am. When I think of that, college doesn't seem scary anymore. Going to Ecuador was way more scary than anything Kent could throw my way! I came back from that country with wonderful memories and a new outlook on life. Kent State seems like cake in comparison to playing with street kids or going to a city dump.

Oh, and for those of you that don't know, I'm an English major with a double minor in Writing and Photo Illustration.