Orientation Day 1

I am writing this on day two of orientation for convenience, but I will split it up into two posts unless I just give up after one day.

All the info I had about orientation was wrong, probably from the wrong year, but I don't know for sure. I wandered around campus trying to figure out where to go and what to do for a while, then I went back to the hotel to get some documents which it turned out were (A) wrong and (B) unnecessary. I got an ID card, which only took a couple minutes. Then I just wandered into the building that had a bunch of people in it. You would think there would be signs all over telling you where to go, but no such luck. Also, other people on campus seemed to not know where to go.

Anyway, I got registered for the thing. I wasn't late, but I was one of the last people to arrive, I think, and so the few people that talked to me probably think I am stupid or something. The only bad part is that I think some organization was giving out bags because a lot of people had them, but I couldn't find it, so I think they probably ran out or left.

After a while there were some talks that basically amounted to "be professional and proactive," but took a few hours. Nobody ever accused academics of efficiency. They weren't terrible, but they also weren't particularly interesting. I met a dude from China. There seem to be a lot of new Chinese students, so maybe I should have studied Mandarin, or maybe Cantonese. I don't know where in China they are from, I was just reading their nametags, except for this one guy I already mentioned.

After all was said and done, there was a picnic-like thing for the new students, so I got some free food and Yuengling beer, which is at least a third-tier beer as I see it, so I was happy. Also one of the dudes working gave me an extra can toward the end of the night and he seemed cool. I hung out with some public health students and an electrical engineer and they seemed pretty alright. Fascinating day...