College Orientation

To everyone who actually reads this blog, it's time for another story. The 1st one in quite a long time.

Dalziel opened his eyes and peered at his unfamiliar surroundings. The blanket covering him was not the same old typical blue drab blanket that had covered him for ten or so years. It was a crisp new multi-colored blanket. The starchy newness had not yet been worn out and the scratchy texture was slightly uncomfortable against his bare skin. Directly above him was the stucco ceiling with a strange smooth patch directly above his head.

He was about to sit up like he did every morning, smack his lips and wake up a little more, but the ceiling was much too low and he was not able to partake in his morning routine. Many of the small mannerisms he had picked up sleeping in the same place every night were no longer applicable. He was in a new place. He was starting new. He was immersed in a place where no body knew his name. He was at college.

Orientation was a very strange deal. A group of 943 high schoolers assembled from mostly New England used to a life of rigorous scheduling and structure were being introduced to one of the most unstructured and lax periods of their life... following a 'very strict' schedule.

The day started with breakfast bright and early at 0730 and running until 0830. Then there was a speech titled "Winning at Life". Unfortunately this was a misleading title as the whole speech was supposed to be about alcohol abuse education. Dalziel being the extremely obedient boy that he was, slept in past breakfast and the whole morning of substance abuse workshops, lectures, and speeches.

The first day of orientation Dalziel mindless and a bit fearfully followed the schedule laid out for him. Then after that day, he realized that nothing was really mandatory and he could pick and choose which events that he wanted to attend. Most of the morning activities were fairly useless, but the afternoon and evening activities were actually quite entertaining.

One particular evening, Dalziel found himself waiting outside the auditorium in a large group of freshmen. All he could hear was loud pulsating music coming from inside of the building, his first thought was, 'Oh great. Really? A dance with 31% females? Awesome...' At first he just internalized all of these thoughts, but then he realized that he was at college orientation. He would be spending the next four years of his life with these people, he might as well utilize his practiced extroversion and try to meet some people. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, everyone around him all uttered their agreements once Dalziel worked up the courage to voice his opinion.

All the while the line was slowly inching its way slowly into the deep, dark chasm with the mysterious pulsating beat. Each person slowly but obediently shuffled in packed like sardines being led to the slaughter. Drifting closer to the unknown opening of the throbbing building, Dalziel felt a sense of anticipation growing inside of him, he slowly walked closer and closer until he was finally in the building.

Once inside Dalziel was greeted with yet another chokepoint, the stairs leading down to the gym floor. He made it down to the gym floor. There he was greeted with the loud cheers of the RAs, CAs, and his other classmates that had already made it down to the floor. They were standing in two lines with a space in between for everyone else to run through and give high fives and scream and yell their little lungs out. Needless to say, with 943 people the whole process took a ridiculously long time and by the time the whole class was done giving high fives, Dalziel's hand felt purely and utterly disgusting. But the activity was not over! Now they were instructed to hold hands with the people next to them and play what Dalziel retrospectively deemed, "Train Wreck". There really was no purpose of this activity as Dalziel saw it. It was just sprinting while holding hands, but of course with 943 people holding hands there's bound to be some safety issues. After sprinting for about 10 seconds the line would come to a stop but the people farther away from the stop would have no idea and it would just end up having the people in the front be smooshed up against the people in front of them exactly like a train wreck.

To make a long story short, because SOMEONE won't finish writing, college is nice. The room mates are pretty chill and we get along nicely. Still have yet to meet multitudes of different people, but hey, It's been just about a week of class now. Or some might say already 1 week of class... only 6 weeks left for the courses I'm taking. Alright finals in 6 weeks let's go!

P.S. A slight inconvenience of blue highlighted text. I apologize if it bothers you as much as it does me.