Orientation Week Day 2

I forgot to mention about Single and Sexy, a play that the drama department puts on every year during orientation week. It illustrates all the 'potential' situations that could occur to the frosh entering university, from sexual harassment to AIDS, and they obviously plug the services that the university provides (Health Services, for example). The funniest thing from the play is the Chinese guy, which they have every year, represent the foreign student that is trying to fit into the society. This year, the foreign student is from Hong Kong, and in the middle of the play he started speaking Chinese. He said something along the lines of "Now that I'm speaking Chinese, nobody else will understand what I'm talking about except for those of you who understands this right now." Also, in the scene where his roommate got drunk, he screamed "Sei gwai lo, yau yum jui jau".. those of you who understand Chinese will realize how funny that is.

The second day of orientation was a little more toned down (at least I didn't get dunked into a mud pit again). It started off with Junk Yard Wars, where each colour group needs to build a machine using scrap wood, cardboard, and nails. This year, they had to build a machine that picks up aluminum cans, and a machine that destroys other group's tower of cans. My group was not very successful, but they had a lot of fun designing and I can really see some group dynamics going on between them.

The highlight of the day was Meet The Tool, the mascot of Waterloo Engineering. My colour group put on a skit, an reenactment of the war scene from Braveheart. (since we're the Grape Scots and all) I was so happy to find that my group came up with pretty much the whole idea, and planned it amongst themselves. As a result, we were allowed into Federation Hall first - hence closest to the Tool!

At night it was the Lunar Luau, a joint-faculty event with Mathematics and Environmental Studies. I ended up walking around and chatting with other leaders, while keeping an eye out for any trouble. Some EdCom was doing what they do best - taunting singers at the karaoke bar. "Frosh, I want to see more dance." "Frosh, put the microphone down and step away from the stage." It was a hilarious sight.

Now to get some sleep..

Orientation Week Day 1

Having to wake up for breakfast at 6:30am is painful, but not as painful as the breakfast not showing up until 8:30am. The flood of first year students arriving at the colour group HQ started around 8:45am, as they lined up patiently outside waiting to crawl through the 'maze' we constructed. They are so young - some even as young as 16. Sure makes me feel old amongst them!

The group started off relatively quiet, and it's totally understandable given the fact they barely knew each other. I felt the same way during my frosh week too. The leaders taught them a few cheers, and we mingled with them for a bit. The first activity was Meet EdCom - the Education Committee. I won't go into the details, but I can see that my group is getting pumped for the rest of the activities during the day!

At the department lunch, I took the first years that were in Electrical and Computer Engineering to the designated area. I feel that my department is the most.. economical. While other departments have pasta or outdoor barbecue, we were stuck with tiny sandwiches. Not only that, but there weren't enough to feed everybody there. So then there were about 30-40 first years without any lunch. *sigh*

The afternoon consists of Earn Your Hardhat, a tradition that's been passed down through generations of engineering students. The freshman will earn their hardhat by completing the tasks of the Five Principles of Engineering: Integrity, Teamwork, Communication, Organization, and Leadership. The most memorable event for any colour group leaders would be the Leadership event, and I shall expand a little more on that.

As leaders, the three of us had to kneel on the grass, wearing a hardhat with nails sticking out from them. The first years will line up, water-balloon in hand, and break them over our heads. After the water-balloon supply is depleted, sponges were soaked with water and thrown at us. When the group of first years finish drenching us in water, we had to crawl - on our stomachs - across a tunnel formed by the first years joining hands. At the end of the tunnel, we were to throw ourselves in a pool of mud water. We were then given our leader hardhats, of course, with mud water in them and poured right over our heads. Yum. I feel as though I have been finally accepted into the engineering fraternity, haha.

Showering after that was my favourite event of the day. :)

Orientation Week Day 0

I don't know how I came up with Day 0, but since the frosh is not arriving for the faculty event until tomorrow, I have another day to make sure everything is ready. The room now glows in purple, everything in the room is purple. We now even have a mascot - Nessie! It looks more like Barney, but that's beside the point. Everything seems to be ready for the big day tomorrow. A couple of leaders sat down and thought up some cheers for tomorrow.. I am never a big cheering person, but I think I'll need to lose my timid side and step up to the challenge!

Orientation Week Day -1

Today was another day of hard work to prepare the Grape Scots headquarter. It's really coming along - Andrew and Matt (the other two Huges along with me) built a tunnel with tables stacked on top of each other, so that the frosh can climb through. The room now radiates with purple, ever since we covered the lights with purple celophane. Other leaders came by and said that our HQ is by far the most innovative one. I sure hope the frosh will think so too.

The campus-wide leader social was more of a drink-now-because-you-can't-drink-during-frosh-week event for the leaders. I left early because I didn't know too many people at the event, and I would like to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

Orientation Week Day -2

I don't remember if I mentioned that I was involved with orientation week at my school this year, but in case I didn't, well, now you know. :) Today was the first time I met with all the orientation leaders in my group in the "HQ Room". Each group is designated a colour, and we need to come up with a theme. Our theme is the Grape Scots - sort of like "Great Scots". Anyhow, we raided the city of everything purple, from fabric to balloons, and even a handbag. (what we are using that for, I have no idea)

Two more days until the incoming students arrive on campus! I can't wait for the day to come - it will be so exciting to witness the feared 'double cohort', and hopefully we'll be prepared enough to handle them!

Adventure on Greyhound

Last night I took the late bus to leave Champaign for Chicago, where I would take the bus and return home. Here is the bus ride, in summary:

1. Champaign -> Chicago
Just a regular bus ride - quite a bit faster than I expected, only took about 2 hours to reach Chicago downtown.

2. Chicago -> Michigan
The driver was a 31 year veteran in bus driving, and he went on the announcement to brag about it. I must say though, he was efficient, and did his job well. Got us to Michigan two hours before the scheduled time. Not that it matters - because I still had to wait for the connecting bus.

3. Michigan -> Windsor
Got the most disgruntled driver who complained about everything from the delay at the terminal to the drivers on the road at 6am. I wish she would just shut up and do her job. Went past the customs where they asked us to get off the bus, then get back on. Huh? Why can't the customs people just come on the bus to ask us questions? We crossed the tunnel at Windsor, and about to embark on the journey, when suddenly..

WHAM.

The driver ran a red light, realized it half-way, and slammed on the brakes. There was a green pickup that slammed into the side of the Greyhound - literally T-Boned. Looks like the truck suffered much more damage than the bus! Oh and just in time, it started to rain. What a great way to start the day.

So we all got off the bus, waited for another bus to take us onwards to the London terminal. The bus came, and me and this other guy (Matt, a drummer from England whom I met on the trip from Chicago to Michigan) didn't have a seat. Originally we were going to sit on the floor, and the driver said he would let us ride for free. Then some Greyhound admin came by and said he would send us off to London by taxi. TAXI?! From Windsor to London, on the highway, takes about 2 hours. I am not going to argue, since I don't have to foot the bill.

Got to London, caught up with the connecting bus to Toronto, and got there only an hour behind schedule. Considering all that has happened, I didn't think the delay was unreasonable. Thanks to Adrian who volunteered to pick me up - I was about to fall over when the whole 17 extended hour of travelling ended.

I hope there is some compensation on my suffering and time-wasted though. I didn't pay to have the driver run a red light and cause an accident!

*sigh* Things like this only happen to me.

Last Day in C-U

Tonight I'll be heading back to Toronto on Greyhound - 15 hours of bus ride. I wonder what it would be like - or if it would be half as comfortable as sleeping on the plane. Had some amazing Italian food at a nearby restaurant in CampusTown, bookstores are giving away lots of freebies (I already got a t-shirt and some pens!).. reminds me of my own frosh week in university. I suddenly feel so old surrounded by all the 17-18 year olds..

American Iced Tea != Canadian Iced Tea

I have learned something else here - never order iced tea. American iced tea is literally just iced tea. Non-sweetened. I actually figured this out two years ago, at the Chicago O'Hare Airport. Since then, I have forgotten and keep ordering this blasted iced tea here numerous times. Ugh. Must remember for next time.

Living here is awesome, except for the fact that I have to climb up and down the stairs to get into bed, and the apartment is seriously built for Evelyn. I nearly hit my head every time I climb the steps. There is barely any entertainment in this town, unless you (a) belong to a fraternity or a sorority and (b) likes to drink and party everyday of the week. No wonder this university is ranked in the top 5 partying schools in America.

Life in C-U

So today Evelyn is in orientation for incoming graduate students, and I found out that there is wireless internet here at Borders :) So I'm sitting here, sipping my Latt�, and surfing the net. Unfortunately it's only free for one day (some promotion they are having).. so I have to pay for my next daypass tomorrow if I want to come back.

It is not impossible to live in C-U without a car, but if you want to buy anything or do any kind of grocery shopping, a car is almost a must. We rented a car for the week (damn expensive too), so we could shop for her apartment without too much trouble. Probably go on a weekend trip before I head back to Canada, and before her semester officially starts.

Everything in America is bigger. Even their supermarkets. Meijer stuns me with their size (and prices). Everything is so expensive here too. Collegetown is cool - something that I know I'll miss when I go back to Waterloo. A much better student atmosphere here, and it seems the town is built solely for the purpose of the students here.

I'll recount more adventures as the week goes on. :)

Arrived - and moved!

Driving a big truck is very annoying. Not only that you have to watch the overhead clearance, you cannot go through drive-thru, cannot park regularly at a parking lot, and all the cars give you the most recognized sign language on the face of this planet when they pass you. Thankfully, we got to Champaign-Urbana right on time and got the keys. The move from ground floor to third floor is HORRIBLE. So I have learned three more things in life:

1. Don't rent a place on the third floor when you have 20+ boxes to move.
2. A utility dolly is useless when moving up and down the stairs.
3. Evelyn is stronger than me now.

Took us a little over 4 hours to move everything from the truck into her apartment. All the boxes barely fit into her very very small apartment - and I mean VERY small. I am starting to question whether she can live there for five years..