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Day 1 of Orientation.
Started off with check-in and got my key along with my orientation ID and all that cool stuff. Since I’m in a program at WU called LEAP, we had a meeting just for us. I finally got to put a face to the e-mails that the LEAP leader sent us. He’s.. I don’t know. He’s actually REALLY intimidating lol. It seems like we have the same sense of humor though, so maybe that’s a good thing?

At that point we were sent to Tillman for a “welcome” by the VP of Student Life & the Dean of Students. Then the OL’s (orientation leaders) introduced themselves and such..and we were sorted into groups based on the sticker on the back of our orientation ID. My sticker had Timon & Pumba from the Lion King, which sorted me into Alyssa’s “Hakuna Matata” tribe. OH BTW ALYSSA IS ASIAN. CAN I GET A HELLLL YEAH!? The Orientation Gods granted me my wish.

So anyways..we were escorted to this classroom like setting to go over general procedures and then we took part in “ice-breakers.” And trust me..our group needed them..’cause we weren’t saying ANYTHING. But that’s natural, right? In a room full of unknown faces, what CAN you say? But yeah. We started off with the “name game.” Basically the point is to say your name and use an adjective that started with the first letter of your first name. You also had to a motion with it, and everybody repeated everyone’s name and motion. That left us with: Atomic Alyssa, Jacob the Just, Crazy Cheyenne, Jumping Jamie, Daring David, Dynamic Daniel, [Something] Adrian, Joking Johnathan (oh hey), [Something] Diana, Dangerous Desmund, Intelligent Isis, Victor the Victorius, and Jellyfish Jasmine. I feel like I’m missing someone.. But it’s slipping my memory right now. I feel bad that I couldn’t remember the other people’s adjectives haha.. Second part of our ice-breaker was a game called the watermelon game. It’s hard to explain in text.. Just Youtube it or something.

Lunch goes here. Again, we were all still awkward. Alyssa asked us random questions but.. Yeah. We learned how to do a “Spirit Check” and a few chants. Oh. A select few of us “rode the pony” in the caf too. It’s not a literal thing..it’s just one of those things that you have to see to understand lol.

Afterwards, we sat through a 50 minute class basically explaining the importance of being an engaged student during college and stuff. Some of us (and by us I mean Victor) fell asleep LOL. Then we were split up based on our majors for academic unit meetings. It was basically a long ass session on how to register and what we need for our major.

I managed to tag along with a random group of kids on their way to Tillman again..which is where we got our ID’s. Luckily I was there like RIGHT WHEN IT STARTED so the line wasn’t even long at all. And since I didn’t have time earlier to move into my [orientation] dorm - I got my bags and stuff and moved into my room. Good thing it was only on the second floor ‘cause everybody was trying to get on the elevator..

Insert dinner here. BUT NAH THERE IS SOMETHING FUNNY TO TELL. Jasmine was using the bathroom, right? And she was sitting there..and she said she just heard like a clunk noise. Like, as if something hit the floor. She looked at her lanyard and said she was glad that it wasn’t her room key ($65 charge for missing keys..) but when she looked down..her student ID and driver’s license were floating in the toilet. Now uh.. Keep in mind the toilets are automated. So I guess you can guess what happened. It was so funny to hear about, man. Sucks for her though..’cause she came down here from New Jersey. I don’t even think I’ll let her live that down when we come back.

Probably one of the funnest things about Day 1 was SKITS (Students Knowing Information To Succeed). Basically the OL’s acted out various situations regarding college life - drunk driving, taking advantage of drunk people, respecting diversity, etc. Then of course..they danced and such. We actually took a break during skits for a diversity activity. We all got a card and wrote a sentence that followed the scheme: “Just because I am [blank] doesn’t mean that I am [blank].” It was an anonymous activity and we all got someone else’s card and read them aloud. And uh.. We really kinda opened up to each other. Most of them were obvious, but we all reflected on them one way or another. I was honest about mine from the get go. No shame here..

Last part of SKITS consisted of dances and what not to show off school spirit and there was a dance competition at the end. About 6 people went on stage (Jamie from my group went up haha) but it all came down to two. This guy named Greg and some Asian dude who could really dance. It was HILARIOUS though man..I’m sure a video or something will surface soon. Hopefully anyway.

After SKITS we were pretty much set free to do what we wanted. Whether that be the dive-in movie, the dance party, basketball, ping-pong, pool, video games, etc. We were all escorted to West Center at first though. Alyssa & I played a game of bean bag toss against David & Isis.. We lost. BUT WE’RE STILL WINNERS THOUGH. I kicked it with David for the most part after that. We watched people fail & succeed at rock climbing and then we went to the dance party. Now..let it be known that I’m no dancer and neither was David really. So we were sitting down for the first little bit. But eventually David got up to dance and I only got up to dance when Alyssa pulled me up there haha. So I danced with her for a song or two and then the music just got mega mega mega MEGA wack so we all pretty much split ways. I grabbed something at Starbucks and headed back to the dorm ‘cause there wasn’t much left for me to do.

I finally got to meet my [orientation] roommate. Well. Sort of. He didn’t talk much at all really. I hardly said a word to the guy other than “Sup?” “So where are you from?” “You want the light off yet?” and that was honestly pretty much it.. Shrug.

Insert sleep here.