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.

Dorm Room Woes

Hello everyone,

I’m Becca; I will be taking over for Heidi as this year’s student blogger, since Heidi is no longer fresh meat. Congrats on that Heidi!

It is a gray and rainy day in my hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, and I am still drying from my very wet bike ride. It had just finished raining when I left, so I figured I should have at least half an hour before the next downpour. I was wrong. See, I never check the weather. I just don’t care if I get wet, or a bit cold…though on days like today, when the Weather Gods seem to be trying to make up for three months of drought in one morning, this philosophy can get me into trouble.

I plan to spend my rainy afternoon cloistered inside, trying to figure out just how much I can cram into my teeny-tiny dorm room. I am one of those people who like lists, and true to form I am working on a list of what to bring (this list actually translates into piles on my floor, so I can no longer get into my room). Thus far, I have:

• Essentials:
o Yoga mat
o Rock climbing gear
o Clothing
o Coats
o Shoes
o Hiking Boots
o Bedding
o MacBook, Ipod, Wii
o Shower shoes
o Toiletries
o Fist Aid kit
o Paper, pens, stapler, etc.
o Important documents and financial records
o My camera
o Commuter Bike
o Boxed food
o My chocolate stash

• Other stuff that would be nice to have
o Photography books, a few favorite novels, all the books I am half-way through and think I might actually finish
o Photos of friend, family, and my puppy dog.
o A poster of Mount Everest (it is one of my life’s goals to climb the summit)
o Camping gear
o Mountain Bike
o A plant


I am still very lost about what to bring. They have this nice list on the CU site about what not to bring (curtains, most appliances, pets, parents, etc.) but their list of what to bring was depressingly short. Meanwhile, I have been facebooking my roommate and she is trying to determine if she can bring her backpacking gear, her skis, and her snowboard, while I am trying to find a place to store my second bike.

In an attempt to answer both our questions, I went out and bought this book I have heard about, The Naked Roommate, hoping that it could give me some guidance. So far, I am 113 pages in, and it has given me good advice about how to deal with the klepto roommate, the smelly roommate, the roommate you hate, the roommate that comes with her boyfriend attached, the drunken roommate, and of course, the naked roommate. Though I have talked to my roommate, and she seems really cool, this book totally has me convinced that everyone in college is doomed to live with a neurotic, thieving, smelly, puking crazy person. To top it all off, I still have no idea what to fill our new prison cell with!

I guess I am just going to have to keep floundering around until I figure it out. Maybe this is a good example of what college will be like—you have no idea about what you are doing, but you just keep stumbling around, acting like everything is under control, until everything works itself out. The Naked Roommate did tell me to ask for advice when I am lost, so does anyone have any advice?

Move over Rover

Dear Readers,

It's time to say au revoir to our dear first-year student blogger, Heidi. Heidi is retiring from the First-Year blog and is on to the world of "sophomore-ness". Please welcome our newest blogger, Rebecca. We are all excited to have her and to follow her experiences as a First-Year student at Leeds. Welcome Rebecca!

Getting ready for move-in? FAQ's! (Updated 6/19)

Hey everyone!
Hope the last few weeks have treated you all well and you're getting excited about coming to Boulder next fall!

This summer I've gotten a few comments/emails with questions about move-in/dorms/general life, so I figured I'd post answers for everyone to check out. PLEASE do not hesitate to email me your questions- I love answering them and giving you guys the inside scoop :)

Am I going to be stranded if I don't bring my car?
Not taking a car to school is a great idea! I brought mine since I wanted to be able to home when I wanted, but it also allowed me to be lazy and not take the bus to do stuff like go to target. The buff buses (from WV to campus) run until midnight every night, until 3 a.m. on weekends and every 20 minutes on weekends which hooks you up to nearly all the main bus lines which for the most part stop by the UMC or throughout campus. Boulder is also very bike-friendly and the city has been really successful in creating bike lanes and nice bike paths all over. Plus then you get some exercise! :)
I would also reccomend committing to staying in Boulder every weekend (if you live in the area) for at least the first month of school. I had a really hard time adjusting because I booked it out of town most weekends first semester while everyone else stayed in the dorms and got to know each other. The last thing you may want to do on the weekends is hang out with all the people you don't know, but if you make the decision to stick with it even when you're sick of the dorms it will pay off.

What's the difference between a 2-student room and a 2-student apartment? What did you have?
So an apartment vs. room- on your housing assignment letter it will say "You have been assigned to Room # in --- Hall, a 2/3/4 student apartment/room." If it says apartment, you have an apartment style room with a kitchenette/living room in addition to the bedroom(s). If it says 2-student room, you will have the basic dorm room with 2 people and closets which is still totally manageable. :)

Is it true that I can get a season ski pass to Eldora for $99?
Eldora season pass for $99- TRUE! This only happens for like 2 days at the beginning the semester. come to school with a way to get one because when you hear that they're at the UMC you should go snag a pass! I missed out big time and didn't get one, and going to Eldora twice would pay for that pass (Single day tickets are around $75 I think...). Plus it's really easy to do half days of skiing/snowboarding at Eldora- there's a bus every hour from Boulder up to the slopes that is free with your student RTD bus pass that you automatically get when you enroll at CU. I would recommend getting this, even if you are getting another pass because it's nice to be just an hour away from home versus going all the way up to Breck/Copper/wherever your skis may take you.

What are the rooms like in Williams Village? (All towers)
Most of the rooms in WV are very similar to my pictures- but what's cool is that in each tower each floor and room are slightly different floor plans. For example, in Stearns East where I lived, the top 4-5 floors were all 4-student apartments, and any rooms below 9 were generally 2 student rooms. Some rooms are a bit bigger or smaller, but for the most part my pictures are of a pretty average sized bedroom. Here's some more pictures of other rooms in WV:
Normal 2-student room:
2-student room with bathroom:




Should I loft my bed?
I had my bed lofted half the year and had it taken down at semester- with the amount of space we had (I was in a 2-student apartment, not a 2-student room) I really didn't need the bed lofted. I got tired of climbing up to my bed all the time, but I was also used to doing homework/generally hanging out sitting on my bed so it was an adjustment. Lofting definitely gives you more space but is sort of a pain- I'd try and convince your roommate to loft their bed :P It does make for some more interesting ways to organize your room and a pretty good amount of additional space.

Can I put up Christmas lights around the edge of my room? Can I tack them up or use a staple gun?
You're not technically allowed to put holes in the walls- plus all the walls are made of brick so you can't really tack into anything right along the ceiling. One of my favorite things about WV though is that most of the walls are covered in tack board, so you could hang lights on that! Or you can also buy little sticky-back light hooks made for people's houses and hang your lights, which is what we did in my room. Purple lights are only $3 at during Halloween at target :) I always liked it when people put lights around their windows because you could always see it from outside, which looked really neat.

Finals Time!

I am very sorry to everyone for the sparse posts the last few weeks, but life and school are both moving at warp speed and it's hard to keep up! Today I have my first final in my Sex, Gender and Society class, and then 3 more finals in the following days. Ahhh! With turning in final projects- at my last count I had 3 papers, 1 German presentation and 1 essay portfolio to get ready- and wrapping up classes at the end of spring semester feels much busier than it did in the fall. Nice weather doesn't help with trying to stay inside studying either, since all I really want to do is go outside and enjoy the sunshine!
Moving out is no fun either- having to take down all the posters that made my room so cheerful is a total bummer. Goodbyes are rushed as people leave for the summer at different times because of different finals, and vague plans are made to see other in-staters during the break. Last night our floor took a few pictures of everyone in their rooms and wondered about who would be living in them next year. It seems so strange to think that anyone else has ever called our space home! :-) But Williams Village has been around since the seventies- I heard about a girl who was living in the same tower her dad had lived in when he went to CU. So as I'm getting ready to go and finally have a moment or two to breathe, I'll try and keep you more updated as to how the year ended and what move-in will be like in the fall. Cheers!

Pictures from around Campus- Springtime!

The new visual arts building, brick by brick!

Conference on World Affairs- Flags [Norlin Quad]

Farrand Field greening up after rain, but still snow in the Flatirons! [Farrand Field]

There are tons of bulbs around campus. [Engineering Quad]

Again, still snow in the mountains after hitting 70 for a few days.