From The Desk of Me
School Daze
Orientation has been a blur of activities. To make it worse, with REX and general moving-in chaos, as well as family good-byes and newfound freedom, it often feels that we, the new fragile MITers, are always on the move, trying to stake out a spot on territory already peed on by the aggressive, intimidating upperclassman.
And as freshman, we can’t even stand together against this evil because the most many of us have said to each other is: “Hi, I’m Annie. I’m from California and I’m living in Baker. I’d like to study Course 8. What about you?” “Oh well, I’m Josh from Long Island, I live in BC, and I’m going to be a Course 2. Yeah…” Awkward silence.
Although the last week may have honed our small talk skills, I fear the Class of 2013 has a long, long way to go before we become a true class. Good thing we have four years for that!
With so little time, and an enormous number of people, the last week has been more intense than I had been expecting. Whenever I rounded a corner, there was Free food, Free Stationery, Free T-Shirts, Free Condoms(!), and a horde of freshman ready to snatch it all up! Many-a-time, I was part of that horde, and although the freebies were nice, the whole process was a bit surreal, and this fake reality is unsettling. The first week of college is naturally supposed to be overwhelming for all the usual reasons, but I am ready for it to slow down. Orientation, REX, and Rush/Recruitment has been a blast, but it wasn’t meant to last forever, and I honestly don’t want it to. I crave the normalcy and routine of classes; I want to get my freshman year rolling and begin experiencing actual college life. With my newly acquired Student Activity Center Notebooks and MIT Library Pencils, I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Although I might regret these words and want it to be September 8 again six weeks from now, when the exams begin to come around, for now, I’m happy with moving forward and meeting my new professors and making actual conversations with my fellow freshman. Life is great. Yet I know it’s going to get even better!