My Second First Day

Day 7 - Tuesday



Spanish this morning at 8.

My professor is a Spanish snob! People in my class have never taken Spanish before, and he expects us to have the language entirely memorized. I hope he wakes up one day & realizes that we're Spanish 101 students, not 201!!!



My next class wasn't until 11, so i came back to Cory Bretz (my awesome hall!) and made myself breakfast (instant cream of wheat is yummy!). Then i washed all my dishes & studied for about an hour for tomorrow. I watched T.V for a bit, and then headed to class. However, my Art professor was a no show....so we all left after 20 minutes. I know, totally unlike me, but i didn't want to stay for a professor that clearly wasn't coming!

Then i ate lunch with the girls, came back to CB to get my bag, & headed to my English Composition class. Finally, a class i can get into!

Finally, i had my Freshman Seminar in English class (luckily in the same building).

I've learned that my roommate eats her cereal with chopsticks....very funny!

I also hate waking up at 6:30 every morning. I'm sure once more time goes by i'll move that to 7, but for now i use the extra 30 minutes.

I miss my Peanut!! It's so weird not having my dog following me everywhere!!!!
I can't wait to go home & see him =]
Obviously my parents & brothers too! (yes, i actually miss my brothers..even though they don't miss me...i asked them! but they at least respond when i text them)

That's all for now, i have to hit the books! Or book rather, just history. First quiz tomorrow!!!!!

Love,
Anna

Day 4, 5, & first day of classes

Day 4 - Saturday

Luckily there were no meetings today!
I did my normal thing with some girls in my hall in the earlier part of the day.
Some friends (Darcey, Amanda, & Cody) came to visit that night.
We went downtown & ate at Johnny Rockets, which Cody treated us to, then we walked around the circle for a bit. I still had some money left on my Starbucks gift card so i bought everyone some coffee. On our way out, we were in some big department store (i couldn't tell you the name for the life of me) and i made my first purchase since i've been here! Yes, it's probably a good thing i didn't bring my debit card because i could've spent more money than i did. Darcey, Amanda, & I bought matching Columbia jackets. They're really cute & warm! Mine's blue, Darcey's is black, & Amanda's is brown. The rest of my money, which is only about $44, has to be spent on my stupid spanish class for Latin dancing. Yes, I know....very lame. Not to mention that there are way more girls than guys, so i'm not too sure how this will work? Anyway...

Then we all played cards with some other girls in the hall & Stephanie (cousin's girlfriend).
Everybody left about midnight while the rest of us stayed up until about 2:30.

Day 5 - Sunday

The girls & I didn't wake up until 10:30 & it ended up being the day where everyone stayed in their pj's all day. Literally everyone.
We all just lounged around and tried to enjoy our last day of freedom.
We had a hall meeting & then a floor meeting (& got hall t-shirts!)
After that i just picked out my clothes for the next day, set up my coffee maker (i programmed it so it starts brewing when my alarm goes off, genius right?!), and relaxed so i could fall asleep easier that night.

Day 6 - Monday Classes

My alarm went off at 6:30 & i began to get ready for my first class of the day, Spanish.
Let's just say my professor is different. The end.

My 2nd class was 10 minutes after my first all the way across campus, how fun.
My wellness & fitness professor informed us that we'd be starting our pedometer program on wednesday, along with people there to take our blood to see how healthy we are. Professor Diacin said that it was "optional" but we paid for it already. I don't care how much it was, i'm not doing it! I HATE NEEDLES with a passion. I think i'm pretty healthy already & i don't (want) need a blood test to show me.

I came back at 10, grabbed a pop tart, & went downstairs to meet the girls before lunch at 11:30.
My next class is an about an hour (1:00-1:50) and it's History. I don't think i'll enjoy this class very much just because of the time span we'll be studying (but i'll be asking Aunt Mindy for help, that's for sure!). Then i have my Ambassador interview at 2! I really want this job so i'm going over in my head any questions i could ask or anything i could say that would stand out and make her want to hire me! I think i'll do okay though, but wish me luck! =]

Love,
Anna

Welcome week 2009; Day 3

Day 3

After yet another night of tossing and turning, Alice & i woke up at 7:00.
She headed for downtown at 9 & i haven't seen her since (it's almost 4:30 now). Luckily we just had department meetings today. My english professors are really entertaining people! There were only about 10 of us in there, so it was quite cozy. Almost half of the class was chinese, which surprised me. Luckily we've had a lot more free time today & i've been hanging out with girls on the floor below me, one of which i went to high school with. After i post this pathetic, short (compared to yesterdays) blog i'll head down to dinner with the girls. Yet still no sign of Alice.... But i guess she has to come back some time!
All of the upperclassmen have been moving in all day, so it's weird seeing so many more people than before. I think we're all ready to start classes and get welcome week over with because it's just boring.
I just found out that i have my world history class with the girl i went to high school with! YESSSSS, familiar face!
But i've found out that i'll never lecture the boys again about flushing the toilet because.....
SOME GIRLS DON'T DO IT HERE! It's pretty nasty because i've thought all along that it was just a boy thing.
haha but i'm sure you don't care to read about the bathrooms.....
Showering is different. There's 2 curtains in the showers. One for the actual shower & one for the "dressing area". However, the "dressing area" curtain doesn't even cover the entire opening. Someone didn't measure correctly i guess! Not to mention that the once simple task of changing has become difficult. It's hard to put on clothes without still being soaking wet! Even with towels, it's not easy.
It's also hard to shave your legs. It's just a basic shower stall. After i have my shave gel on i need to grab my razor, but by that time most of the shave gel has been rinsed off. I'll need to figure out a better way to do this, & I'll let you know when i finally figure out the secret.



Let's see, what have i learned today.....
It's important to go to the meetings that say MANDATORY below them. They've starting swiping cards to make sure we attend, which they had not done until this morning. So whoever decided to sleep in didn't get their card swiped! (& i'm not really sure what will happen to them)

The thing i hate....or just dislike would have to be sharing a room.
There's so many things to worry about to make sure you're a good roommate!
Does she hate my perfume?
Does she mind that i like to watch TV at night?
Does she mind if i have people in the room?
Would she care if someone spent the night?
Does she mind the smell of my coffee?
Is all the texting & phone calls annoying her?
Will she care that i have to wake up 3 hours earlier than she will for my first classes?

so many questions!
I'm sure it'll get better over time, but i'd like to think i'm a courteous roommate?

More tomorrow!

Love,
Anna

Day 1 & 2

Hey everyone,

I realize i was against this whole blog thing, & here i am doing it. There's a lot of free time up here & therefore i found nothing better to do than blog...& facebook. LAME.
Anyway, i thought i'd take a minute to update everyone.
Remember the jokes during the last half of summer about my potential roommate? Well, to my surprise half of the jokes are true & half are not. As i suspected, the english is a tiny issue. She's already told me that i talk really fast =]. However, she said she hopes to be able to talk like me soon....i told her it's more of a curse than a blessing. ANYWHO...here's a recap of day 1 of welcome week 2009!!

DAY ONE

I started off the day with moving in. Some of you will appreciate the fact that i literally had to carry nothing that morning. Mom & Dad did all the packing of the car on our way here & the move-in crew (& to my disappointment it was the girls soccer team, not the football team) moved all the stuff up to my room while i was checking in, which took about 15 minutes max!
Once upstairs, we starting unpacking...& thanks to some soccer girl who turned on the heat, it was unbearable until we figured out to turn the AC on! After we were finished, we had to make a quick run to Walgreen's for shower curtain hooks & an umbrella. Apparently shower curtain hooks were the hot item that day because i bought the last pack they had.

MEETINGS
MEETINGS
MEETINGS
MEETINGS

That pretty much sums if the hours in between, but later that night came the playfair.
Not as fun as you might think....
The music was really loud & we would walk through the doors as everyone who had entered the doors before us would line up on the sides so we could walk through the middle. Then once everyone was in, we had to run. Yes, me...RUN. We were instructed to hold the hand of the people next to us and we were all strung along with our arms almost being pulled out of socket. But it may sound like all fun & games except i forgot one little detail. THE BUILDING HAD NO AC!!!!!! Therefore the "fun" was no longer "fun", just hot & sweaty. We had to get in big circles of about 15 or so people & we were then instructed to put our elbows on our hips so that we could touch the person in front of us. We would get closer to the middle to make this possible. Then she said to attempt to all move as a group at lean back so that we could SIT (yes, sit) on the person behind us. I have no idea what the guys name was that was behind me, but i had to sit on him as if he were a chair. Whoever created these games was...well, i think you can put a word in that blank.
An hour & a half later we were all dripping in sweat & making great first impressions (eye roll & sigh). Then there was a dance at 9....luckily my roommate (Alice--her American name) and i decided not to go, as many of our floor mates did, & just come back up here, take a shower, & sleep.

DAY 2

The alarm went of at 6:30 this morning. painful!
The floor girls, our RA (Annie), an OL (orientation leader--Whitney), Alice, & I all decided to make our group meeting this morning a meeting over breakfast. I've had almost no appetite since i've been here, shocking right? I thought so too. What i have eaten though has been pretty good, which surprises me. The free lunch on move-in day was terrible...which now i'm thinking was on purpose because of the word FREE. Anyway, breakfast meeting. Haha almost no one was in there, which was 8:30, but we had our little meeting.
Then came 2 more meetings.....B-O-R-I-N-G!
I came back to the room to snack for lunch, only 2 swipes a day (aka 2 meals in the cafe). Alice went to best buy for 7 hours....i can't begin to imagine that. So consequently, meetings aside, i've had quite a lot of alone time. I'm sitting here writing this, enjoying the coffee that i made myself (thank you, thank you!) which was just about the most fun thing i've done all day. I'm starting to look forward to classes so i'm not stuck in these 4 cinder block walls for hours.
I can't wait for tomorrow though! Minimal meetings & Stephanie moves in (cousin's girlfriend)! Finally, another familiar face! There are still meetings tomorrow though, mostly by department; a language i can understand! The best day will be sunday though, NO MEETINGS AT ALL!! Just a movie in smith mall (outdoor area) STAR TREK! Sounds better than meetings to me =]

Everyday i'd like to write something i've found out, learned, or something in that general area.
Today i learned that guys open doors for girls here. Who knew!
They don't let the door slam in your face.
They actually WAIT for you to be out of the room before they shut the door!
It's actually kind of awesome!

One ANNOYING fact is the key.
You have to use the key to get into the building
You have to use the key to get upstairs
You have to use the key to get in your room

I hate keys.
I love when i walk in after people because then they have to use their key =]


So that's about all that's happened in the first 2 days.
I'll try to update all of you everyday, but it may not be quite this long.

I love you all =]