Orientation? Ish?

Hi friends!

Sorry I’m a little late with this post… I’ve been super busy! I intended to put something up after orientation was over, but I couldn’t find the time so now I’ve finished my second day of classes and still haven’t posted anything. So here’s what I can remember from orientation week (which honestly isn’t much. Like I know that people talk about not remembering orientation because they were too drunk the whole time but I was completely sober and have been having a hard time remembering what I did mere hours ago because there has been so much.) Anyways… here goes!

I’ll start with my general living situation. My roommate has finally moved in! We get along pretty well. Our sleep schedules and alcohol intakes were pretty different during orientation, but I slept through all of her late nights and she slept through all of my early mornings so it was fine. (RIP I just got tomato sauce on my orientation shirt… oh well). I’ll delve more into normal life in a later post but she’s calmed down since classes so no worries. I’ve also been encouraging her to eat healthier. We’ve advanced onto mild vegetables.

Honestly, I don’t remember much from orientation itself. We started with matriculation during the day then a candlelight ceremony at night, along with big lunches and dinners on the lawn. The only other orientation events I really remember are a couple of really interesting presentations on diversity and the O-Show, which showcased some of Tufts’ best music/dance groups. What was really interesting to me about orientation was that even though Tufts is not a religious school, there were religious speakers from basically every mainstream religion throughout the day. I liked these small speeches here and there because even though they were given by a religious head at Tufts, the speeches weren’t very religious and were more about how to be your happiest, best self through different lenses.

I’m probably missing plenty of events, but I think that my favorite event was STRUT, a dance party co-hosted by the women’s center and the LGBT center. I spent most of my time in the quiet upstairs reserved for arts and crafts were I talked with both freshmen and upperclassmen about books and dogs and weird animals. I also colored. That was fun. However, the dance party was going on downstairs and I didn’t want to miss out. After a failed first attempt at lasting more than 10 minutes on the dance floor with some of the upstairs group, I braved joining the dance floor alone. But not really because in like 3 seconds I found a familiar face who also had no idea what she was doing but was trying anyways. This was promising, but the party really started when a friend from the xc team (who actually had a fair amount of experience in the dance party regard) dragged the both of us into her circle. And I actually danced! For almost an hour! And had fun! I was probably pretty embarrassing but I thoroughly enjoyed myself doing something I would never think of doing before, so I try not to care too much.

I should also talk about my hall, which I love. I’ve only gotten to know a couple of people but we all had dinner together on one of the first nights and it seems like a really good crowd. Hall snacks start soon, so I’m hoping to talk to more of them then. I’ve also super lucked out with my FYA. (Tufts has done away with RAs because they’re too disciplinary and scary-sounding or something, so instead I have a First Year Advisor who lives on my hall and looks after all of us). My FYA is a sophomore with a real chill vibe. He also actually seems to care about us, which I took for granted until I was told about some other FYAs… But basically my chill hall with my chill but supportive FYA should make for a pretty good living environment. My only complaint so far is that lugging laundry up and down 3 flights of stairs is not fun at all.

So that’s orientation? I’ll hopefully write something about classes this weekend, and I think that all of the cross country stuff I’ve been up to would also take up lots of space, so those are hopefully coming soon! Classes are a little overwhelming, but I’m done buying textbooks, so I think that a routine, even if it’s hectic, is heading my way.

Miss you guys!

I haven't been very good at taking pictures... but here are some.



View of the Prez Lawn, a very pretty hill that I haven't actually spent much time on since orientation



Shitty picture of the candlelight ceremony! I'll repeat the same ceremony the night before I graduate, maybe even with the same candle if I can keep track of it.



The O-Show stage! All the groups were very good, and as you can hopefully tell, it looked like a real concert!