FIT Pre-O

Hi Friends!

I’m officially done with pre-orientation, which is nuts! I’m a little relieved but also a little bit not. Like Tama, I’ve been incredibly busy and haven’t really been sleeping, so this is about to be one big ramble… I’m going to organize this by day to make it easier for myself.

Move In Day!

This seems like so long ago! Moving in was actually pretty easy, and kind of fun. My room is pretty small, but I think it’s comfy. There’s also lots of storage which is great! My roommate and I decorated in our own ways a little bit, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

The view from the door

My side!

After all the check-in and move-in and goodbyes, I met my FIT group and leaders! I had two leaders: a senior guy and a sophomore girl. Both were pretty cool, but the girl is only a year older than me, is a vegan fitness nut, and ran cross country but is now a thrower, so we got along pretty well. The older guy is a baseball player and econ major who seems kind of like a frat dude but is not a frat dude. Despite this, he ended up growing on me. He also sent GIFS into the group chat, which I appreciated. The other freshmen in my group were an interesting mix, but two girls and I stuck together throughout most of FIT. This day also included tie-dye and an ice cream social, which was basically forced mingling in a crowded gym… fun stuff.

Day 2

The second day (and also every other day) involved a 6:30am wake-up which was far too early for my body still on west coast time. We started the day with a talk from a nutritionist about eating a balanced diet in college. It was interesting, but not anything I didn’t already know. We then had our first “Jumbo Workout” where one could choose from a bunch of activities. I chose to play ultimate frisbee ad was surprised by how many other people wanted to play too. I had a lot of fun, but was also very rusty. Getting out and playing again made me a little sad about not being able to seriously play in college, but I’ll be okay. Then our afternoon was spent in Boston, or in my group’s case in Harvard Square in Cambridge. The two girls I mentioned earlier basically just walked around then sat in the square and watched the dogs and the people travelling through the square. On of the girls is from around here, so that was helpful. The final activity of the night was bowling, which was surprisingly very fun! I also bowled over 100 which is 3x better than the last time I went bowling. My group ended up playing 1.5 games, then forgot about bowling and sat around and talked which was nice.

Day 3

I’m going to skip over the morning of day 3 because it was pretty boring. I learned about being productive and did yoga. In the afternoon I went rock climbing. The gym was a little weird so I didn’t do that much climbing, but the main event was a ropes course that everyone did. I had never done a ropes course and am terrified of heights so this was quite the experience. It was absolutely terrifying, and also pretty hard, but I’m glad that I did it. The evening of Day 3 was my favorite part, which was the Jumbo Amazing Race. This was basically a 3 hour scavenger hunt all across campus and then a silly game competition amongst all 18 groups. Up until this point, my group had been pretty awkward but everyone let loose a little bit during these 4 hours, which made everything more fun. Here are some highlights

My FIT group: "Fitnotize"

Doing handstands on the president's front lawn (peep me on the left)

Everyone thought this was cute. The guy in the middle was one of my leaders.

Day 4

This was the last day! This morning, I was pretty excited for FIT to be over. Everyone was pretty done with all of the mingling and the super structured schedule. In the morning everyone attended a lecture about diversity at Tufts. It’s weird for me that for most people, Tufts is very diverse, while for me I’ve never been anywhere whiter. The lecture mostly talked about people’s unconscious racial and gendered biases and how those need to be acknowledged in order to start making change. I really enjoyed this lecture and the prof was awesome! My Jumbo Workout for the day was spinning. I’ve never done spinning before, so was surprised by how hard it was. I don’t know if indoor biking is my thing, but I’m definitely glad that I tried it. FIT then ended with a cruise from Boston Harbour. I was really dreading this because I don’t like boats or social settings with dancing, but I ended up having a good time with some new acquaintances on the top of the boat. I also don’t have any pictures, but the Boston skyline is beautiful. And then FIT was over! I don’t really know how I feel about the whole program, but I’m certainly excited to start eating/sleeping when I want to for the most part.

Extras

I feel like I should add something about the food, because it’s been good. The dining hall has been crazy because campus isn’t officially open yet so everything is only partially running so I haven’t been brave enough to explore all of the nooks and crannies, but what I have been eating has been good. There is always a vegetarian/vegan section with multiple options along with a very good salad bar. I’ve actually been eating vegan during this pre-o, mostly because a lot of the vegetarian options are also vegan, but I told myself I would stick with it for pre-o. I don’t have enough internal drive to stay vegan forever, but there is some awesome raspberry vegan sorbet. Also chocolate soy milk makes for a good dessert.

I’ll try to have another blog up after actual orientation, but we’ll see! Also I know that this is a mess but it’s almost midnight and I don’t want to edit. Sorry… this might become a trend.