Today's rambling: Tales of Orientation
Written on Friday, Jun. 28, 2002 at 9:53 p.m.
while feeling a bit

I'm back from Orientation! We left work early, around 3:30 or so, so that we could do some last-minute shopping (I had to get a water bottle for one of my gerbil tanks, hehe) and then pack. Didn't get out of the house until around 6, and because we kept getting lost, we didn't get into Clarion until midnight!!! *collapses* I was SOO tired.

It was a few degrees cooler there than here, but the humidity was PATHETIC. I was sweating the moment I left the air conditioning, basically. *grimace* The first thing I found out about the university is that it's situated on (and around) a hill. So when Mom parked a short way from Givan Hall (which is where everyone was staying for Orientation), we had to walk up a nice old hill. Wouldn't have been so bad, incline-wise, but it just seemed to go on and on! I'm out of shape as it is, so by the time I reached the top, my leg muscles were screaming angrily at me.

After getting all my gear up into my room (third floor...figures), we meandered down to Hart Chapel for the Introduction stuff. After that, the parents left to go on a walking tour, while the rest of us took our English and Math placement tests. We hadn't even started them when a vicious rainstorm started up, complete with a little bit of hail. At least we were inside, though; all the parents got caught outside and were drenched! Anyway, the placement tests sucked. Had to write an essay for the English one, and of course it had to be the most boring thing imaginable. We had an hour to do it, and I didn't even get the chance to finish mine, because I spent so much time doing the 'pre-writing' part. :oP The Math test, however, nearly had me in tears. I think I ended up leaving the last 10+ blank, because they were all graphing questions and I had NOOO idea how to do them anymore! I felt like such a loser...I figured I'd be put in remedial for sure, and that wouldn't even count toward graduation!

Our foreign language placement was later that day. Heh. I'm not quite sure how I pulled off the score that I got, but it still only got me recommended for French I...which was probably a good thing, as I wanted a sort of refresher course. When I took my results up to the front of the room (this particular test was on computer), the woman I spoke to told me that my scores were actually really close to the French II bracket. She started saying that I should go for that, because I probably did really well in French during high school. I quietly replied, "Yeah, I skipped a level, actually..." Her eyes widened, and she suddenly became quite excited, saying that yes, I definitely should take French II. Then she pointed out the Intensive French study, which is basically French I and II slapped together. It's 6 credits instead of 3, and it meets every day. Since I've been thinking about possibly minoring in that language, I figured I'd at least give it some serious thought.

After that, we met with one of the faculty members of our chosen majors. I, unfortunately, am stuck with this horrible girl named Cynthia. She's slender, blonde, tanned, snub-nosed, outgoing, and absolutely shallow. I think I've seen baby pools with more depth to them. But of course, because she's outgoing, she has this bubbliness that all the adults seem to really like. When do you lose the ability to see through a person's act? Or maybe it's just a talent few people possess. Either way, this girl was stupidly annoying. It wasn't that I had any major questions or anything, because I'd already looked at the course requirements on the Internet before choosing my major (which she, apparently, didn't, because all she did was take notes)...but this girl completely monopolized the entire session! After the professor finished talking, I planned to stay after and ask her privately about the radio's website (even though she had nothing to do with radio; I figured she could point me to someone who did). Instead, dear old Cynthia kept going on and on, acting like she knew exactly what she was talking about ("Yeah, you don't make anything as a DJ. You have to do it because you love it, you really do!" and other such 'Don't I sound smart?' nonsense). Finally, I stood up in disgust, and Mom and I left.

I got back to the dorm around 9-ish (Mom was staying at a nearby hotel), and after reading for awhile I decided to try and find the bathrooms. I had no idea where they were, and as I wasn't interested in asking any of the other girls who were up, I just went back to my room. I was dozing off when my roommate came in much later. I'd figured she would ignore the fact that there was someone sleeping, and just flip on the overhead lights, but she didn't. She left the door open so she could see where she was going, got whatever she needed out of her backpack (I assume), and then left again. It was to see that there are people out there who have respect for others.

Sleep came VERY slowly, because it was MISERABLY hot and humid in that little room. The windows only open a little bit, and even though it was pleasantly cool outside by that time (thanks to the numerous storms that had passed through), and my small fan did nothing to help. My clothes were quickly damp with sweat, and I was wishing desperately that I could call up Mom and get her to take me back to the hotel.

I set my travel alarm for what I hoped would be 5:30 (it only goes off when the hour hand hits the alarm hand, and I didn't know exactly where the hour hand would be at 5:30). I think it went off more around 5:15 or 5:20, but I got up anyway. Breakfast didn't start until 7, and actual Orientation stuff didn't start until 9, but I wanted to be up before everyone else...both so I could wander around until I found the bathroom, and so that I could get all my morning stuff done without worrying about everyone else!

I was scared about the shower setup, but it wasn't so bad. Not as nice as only having to share with one other room (as Tiff does at Lycoming), but not as evil as I'd feared, either. I showered, keeping the water cold at first because it was so refreshing, and then I got dressed and began fixing up. It was while I was in the process of doing the latter that another girl walked into the bathroom. We didn't talk much, but she seemed friendly and everything. Still, I hadn't exactly been Miss Social Butterfly thus far, and so after I'd finished I just said "See you later!" and left. After putting my stuff back in my room, I wandered out to the TV lounge and turned the news on (because I always have to watch the news in the morning). 15 minutes or so later, the girl I'd just met walked out and sat down with me. We had a lot of fun sitting there talking and joking (my favorite was her remark about how the TV was chained to the wall...that spawned quite a conversation), and we even went to breakfast together. I found out that her name was Chelsea.

Blah blah, more boring Orientation meetings, and then finally it was time to schedule classes. I had to go to Becker Hall (which, coincidentally, houses the TV and radio stations), and I got completely lost. By the time I made it there, it was exactly 1 o'clock, and while that was the time we were supposed to be there, all the faculty advised us to get there at least 15 minutes early so that we'd have a better chance of getting the classes we wanted! Of course, Princess Cynthia was there and had already filled out her schedule thingy by the time I trudged, panting, into the room. She probably got better classes than me, but I'm not complaining.

My fall schedule will consist of Eng 111 (Writing II, which is the 'advanced' writing course), Basic Earth Science, Comm 101, French 152 (The intensive course conflicted with my Communication class, so I had to settle for French II), and Computer Information Processing. Couldn't get my Speech/Communication requirement done because all the SCT classes were full! Class sizes are around 25-35 students, so they close quickly.

Spring semester, everyone is only allowed 9 credits, so I have a total of two classes: Intensive French (the equivalent of levels III and IV), and my SCT req, which happens to be Voice and Articulation (since I'm interested more in the broadcasting arena). I would've liked to have had a few more Communication-oriented classes, but I'm not going to complain with what I've got. Most people couldn't even get Eng 111 because it was all filled! I'm not quite sure how I got it. I couldn't take Math at all because it was full for fall, and it gave me too many credits for spring. As I think Math is the spawn of the devil, I was happy. And when I do finally have to take that one math course, it's going to be Math Excursions, which is apparently one that's pretty simple. Berry is happy about that, too.

I did manage to ask Professor Earnhardt about the website thing, and she said that I should basically just go to all the meetings, "get my feet wet", and then tell them about my interest. As it turns out, the advisor guy (the one I should've talked to about the site) had actually been in the room with me...but I didn't know who he was at the time!!! >_<

While in the process of taking the sheets off the bed this afternoon, I called out to Chelsea as she passed the open doorway. We talked for a little bit more, and then she asked me if I had Instant Messenger. So now we have each other's email addies and IM names...it's all very neat! I'll actually have a friend when I start in the fall! :D

Mom skipped the last thingy she was supposed to go to ("Program Evaluation", where all she would've done was fill out an evaluation of the orientation thing), and so we hit the road at around 3 (would've been closer to 2:30, had I not run back down to the store to buy a "Fear the Bird" shirt, hehe). Got home a little after 7, which was very nice. And now I'm so exhausted that I've got a headache. So I think I'll go now (not that any of you have actually read this far, hehe)...

Oo...the food at Clarion is very good. Maybe it's just a ploy, as I suggested to Chelsea, to get the parents to THINK we're being served good food, but I enjoyed everything. Oh yeah, and the transportation problem is no longer a problem, because university transit will take us everywhere...Wal-Mart (BOOYA!), the mall, 'downtown' Clarion (it's such a cute little town)...everywhere, basically! Good stuff.

Okay, NOW I'm going.