Sunday, Aug 27, 2023: Orientation Day 1

I've decided to write in the mornings instead, because I really am a morning blogging person, as I've mentioned before sometime.

Regardless, to keep up with my 100 days of writing streak, I'm seated here at 2am writing. I'll try to dump all the events that I've done today and I'll add some more in the morning.

We get 14 free meals at the dining halls, but so far I've used none of them. There are too many events with food, so I've never had the chance to. This is a potential problem because I've been eating mostly junk food and I should really try to get something a bit more nutritious in my body. Yesterday, I've had pancakes (which is fine, I suppose, but isn't that just carbs), a grilled cheese with pickles (it was quite salty, and so was a pancake), pizza, Cheetos, and a Twinkie. I should really eat some vegetables.

We had an Orientation kickoff in the Kresge Auditorium and I looked around and took in the sight of having a little more than a thousand people that make up the class of 2027. We played a Kahoot but for big audience game, and I placed 24th which might be my most impressive feat for a while. After that, we had small group meetings in our Orientation groups. There are 14 people in each group, and it's quite large in my opinion. I'll have to seriously think about if I want to put in the effort to seriously get to know these people. If it were a group of 10 or below, I would have definitely tried to meet everyone, but 14 is just way too much. Honestly, I don't remember most of their names. Well, I'm not good at learning names in general.

After, I went to an event in Random Hall. It was quite far away from the rest of campus and I don't know if I would have made that journey if I had known in the first place how far away it is. It's a very interesting place. I think Random is a good descriptor. I ended up walking through almost the entire place looking for a bathroom. There are murals, cats, and a good amount of plush chairs to just sink into. It's also built like a maze. The basement floor was not flat.

I suppose that marked the start of my journey exploring the other dorms. I've only gone to MacGregor events for the sake of learning all the entries, so I haven't really ventured outside of my dorm. (Well, it's only the first real day of orientation, so I suppose it's fine. Also, I can't believe it's only been a day.) I met up with some friends from PROMYS after and we went to a party and I got into a mosh pit for the first time. I felt kind of awkward to be honest but maybe I'll get used to it with time? Parties don't really exist at my high school.

I checked out my friends' dorms in Maseeh and Burton-Connor and realized that these dorms had better facilities than MacGregor. Well, MacG is old and we do have singles for everyone which is super nice. The other buildings have been renovated relatively recently so they get nice wide hallways and nice doors and nice walls and everything. I'm kind of wondering if it's worth moving to the other buildings, and then I realize that I have to do the moving part by myself and I really don't want to carry all of my stuff around. Besides, I get a nice single.

After going to the East Side Party hosted by East Campus, I realized that the MacGregor events are quite chill in general. The events that we have end up devolving to just sitting down with some food and talking. I've noticed that the MacGregor residents are quite introverted (what a crazy revelation!). I mean, I am too, but I'd also like to go out more and do some new things. Throughout high school, I've never really gone outside and done things with friends and I'd like that to change here.

Final comment that I'll add: my bed is quite hard. I think that's what's causing the sleeplessness at night. I might have to invest in a mattress topper.

100Days: 15, 16