Camp Orientation

I finished my orientation and tomorrow I begin classes. I have unpacked my dorm, gotten my books, and (thanks to my Leeds peer mentor) have found all of my classes. As I was washing my dishes in the dorm room sink today, I realized that I am slowly, but surely, starting to feel like I am in college.
The first week of my “college experience” really did not feel like college at all. Orientation was a lot like summer camp. We had our schedule of activities, which we all moved to in large, confused herds. People in official-looking tee shirts would walk us from A to B. We played games, had activity stations, and spent hours with people whose names we did not know. In the evenings we were strong-armed into going to all of the University sponsored, non-alcoholic events. Some of them were pretty fun—I enjoyed Ice and Dice (a party at the Student Recreational Center) and the Pretty Lights concert was probably the happiest day of my life!
Being in the Leeds School of Business definitely dominated my orientation experience. Not only do they host a separate orientation, they had all sorts of follow up events, like the Diverse Scholars Meetings and Leedsapalooza (the welcome event for new business students). The diverse scholars program is very impressive. They have everything from mandatory retreats to mentors and co-seminars. It seems like a great community to plug into—and I already met a new friend there named Maya. She is great—she is friends with almost everyone already, and is always inviting me to some event!
Leedsapalooza was well executed. As Maya put it, is was a nice mix of fun and information. As I arrived, I was ushered into the building by a throng of faculty, all of who were eagerly waving neon wristbands at us. After donning a wristband, I was escorted into a classroom, where I watched a video on life at Leeds. For a student spoof on a reality TV show that I avoid like the plague, it was not too bad—kind of campy. After that, we were escorted to a field where we were given free ice cream and swag. One thing I can appreciate about Leeds is that they are very dedicated to giving their students free food! I love it. I learned about tons of student organizations, like the Multi-cultural Business Student Alliance (which is open to all students by the way, not just Business Students. Their website is at http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/mbsa/), the Environmental Center at CU (http://ecenter.colorado.edu/livegreen), and the Business Fraternities (Alpha Kappa Psi’s wedsite is at http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/akpsi/about.html, and Beta Alpha Psi at http://www.bap.org/) Who would have thought that a fraternity and professional would ever mix?
Continuing on the string of Leeds events, I met with my Leeds assigned peer mentor this weekend. She is great! She also brought us free ice cream and goodies and showed us around to all of our classes. She even told me about the Math Resource Center—which will save me from failing Calc 2 (of which I am terrified).
Unfortunately, I know that lots of people did not enjoy orientation as much as I did. My roommate said that she almost quit CU because she had such a terrible time. She said she felt like she was in kindergarten, and her parents weren’t there, so she had trouble with meeting people. Apparently, her orientation group was very disrespectful about the rape education course, and rape is a sensitive subject that she feels should be taken seriously. It is a shame she disliked it so much, but I found the experience relatively pain free—and even enjoyable at times.
My room is now plastered in CU and Leeds stuff, my roommate is convinced that Leeds is some sort of elite cult that eats your whole life (which it may well turn out to be true) and I am looking forward to my classes. Maybe I am still honeymooning (please forgive me) but it looks as if, by sheer luck, I have landed in the perfect place for me.