(I think I'll make a new category for my blog, "College Life," because, even though I'm not yet there, that seems to be a big thing for me to blog about right now and, seeing xccj's blog, I bet I'll be blogging about that a lot in the days/months/years to come. Does anyone really care about the categories, or should I stick to putting all life events in my Life/General section?)

This past Sunday to Tuesday I attended my college's freshmen orientation, Setting Sail. (I will eventually elaborate on the history of Christopher Newport University, but for now just trust me that "Setting Sail" was appropriate for showing the new freshmen around.

The thing didn't really start until Monday, but I had to get there the night before because of the distance. The college planned stuff for this option, so anyone arriving early would be able to get to a room the night before. The rest of my family got to go to the beach after they dropped me off.

So, not wanting to hang around by myself until bed time (which I could have done because I brought a book just in case), I went down to the second floor (my room was on the third) and peeked around the corner. There were a few (4) kids walking away, so I tagged along and we got along pretty well. So well that we, and one more addition, stayed up until 11 hanging out. We decided to meet up for breakfast the next morning.

On Monday everyone (about 300 people, there were four sessions to choose from) was split into crews. My crew leader was great, as were most of the other freshmen. I was wearing my awesomesause Fullmetal Alchemist shirt (the button down one if you've ever seen it for sale at a con) and someone (Vince) noticed it so we hit it off immediately. (We were all wearing name tags so that was nice.) That morning consisted of "welcome" and "we're excited to have you" and the like, and presentations all day consisted of what was expected of us and what was on campus for us and, most importantly (?), what there was to do to have fun.

At lunch another freshman (Liz) noticed my shirt, but she was in another crew so simple said we'd have to hang out later. At dinner we saw each other again so she sat with Vince and me, as well as another girl (Elisa) who sat with us for some reason (not counting Whitney, but she's not quite out of the "normal" factor like us). I'm not complaining though, Elisa fit in with us three despite her lack of anime knowledge. But she was cool with it, and was able to join in our talk about comic books. (Later Liz and Elisa decided to room together when school starts.)

So now I have a "group" to hang out with, and I'll be sure to make more friends too. Vince and Liz are also psyched about Nekocon in November, and we might gag and drag Elisa too if we can sit her down with some Miyazaki and Gundam and such before hand. (And at the least get her some cat ears at the con!)

My "group" hung out at the game night that was planned. We started an awesome game of foursquare, played some fooseball and air hockey, and Vince got a ton of poker ships on his first hand in the game.

I also had to plan my first semester's schedule, and I must say I am pretty proud of it. I'm in a "Learning Community," in which I share two classes with about 20 freshmen, and we are also in the same residence hall forming study groups. So with my Freshmen English writing class and another required "Area of Inquiry" satisfied, I just had to plan out French, Math, and and my Freshmen first year seminar.

In the end I'm taking that English class (required), a class on the Medieval World, a math class (Math 135) with only 13 students in it, French 200, and a Freshmen seminar (required) on looking into the self and different identities people make for themselves (sounds like fun). My Tuesday and Thursday classes are one in the morning and one in the afternoon. My Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes are two in the morning and one at noon; my weekend starts at 1:00 on Friday!!!

I already know what my residence hall looks like; it's "roomy" (about 11 feet by 17 feet) and comes with a mini-fridge and microwave. Hopefully some things can be rearranged to make room for shelves and other storage/stuff. I don't know who my roommate is yet, though. (Worst part is there was no interest survey, just "do you get to bed before or after midnight" and "do you like loud background music/noise or not when studying?")

In short I'm looking forward to college.

-CF

Quote of the day from Bundalings: "... And doesn't flop like a dead fish strangling a racoon."