Orientation Day 1

Today was the first day of orientation.

We had been given no indication as to what to expect or how long the day would last, other than that we were to show up at 9am at the main auditorium. As Saori and I walked the 2.2 miles to school, we joked that we'd go in and they'd point out the cardinal directions and that would be it. If only that were the case.

It was a beautiful walk to campus- at 8 AM, the air was cool and crisp, the heat and humidity were way down from the last week, and it was really the most pleasant weather we've had since we got to town. It's also a long walk to campus- it ended up taking us about 50 minutes each way, but I think that may not be a bad thing considering how we don't really get any other exercise.

When we got to the building, we were about five minutes late (but not the last ones in!) and (surprise surprise) they handed us:

• The Student Orientation Handbook, which includes an incredibly helpful section on where to live IF IT HAD BEEN DISTRIBUTED WHEN PEOPLE WERE ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR PLACES TO LIVE, not that I'm annoyed about it or anything. It also includes helpful hints concerning student insurance such as "if you cut yourself, do not walk to the student center" and warning that if you go to any other facility within 50 miles of the campus, your medical expenses will not be reimbursed.
• The orientation and pre-semester calender of events which pretty much indicated that our summer is over, ha ha.
• A few pages of notes on getting metro passes, ID cards, etc. and a map of the campus.
• An overdesigned social calender made by the architecture graduate social committee including dinners, bike rides, jazz nights, and picnics.

In the seminar room, we listened for about three hours as major faculty and professors introduced themselves and the college. The associate director of the college, Peter, took the lead as MC and after all the introductions were made gave a very awkward and euphemistic speech about "academic integrity" as well as "unpleasant situations" including the school's policy of intolerance for any form of racism, sexism, discrimination based on religion, nationality, or ethnicity, as well as any form of physical or sexual violence or intimidation. And then we got the same speech again from the head of the student judiciary, who was more comfortable talking about it.

Then a representative from the writing center came in and spent about an hour emphasizing that going to the writing center doesn't mean that we have writing disabilities or incurable social disease. "Lots of fantastic writers come to the writing center," she pointed out brightly, "you know why they are fantastic? Because they know that their work can be improved with revisions." 

The unspoken running joke of the morning was that because all of this stuff was taking place a week earlier than previous semesters, many of the faculty and students on the student council committee were not back in time to be a part of the orientation.

Anyway, the rest of the day was lunch, wandering around campus, tours of the library and printing rooms. (3 laser cutters, 8 main plotters, milling machines, etc etc.) and we all got our student ID's made.

It was interesting to see the makeup of the incoming students. Apparently the school received around 600 applications of which they selected around 116 incoming students to fill in three different sections of the graduate program track. I was amazed at how many Chinese students there were. I'd say there were at least a dozen Chinese, and from the ones I spoke to, most of them had just arrived from China and had never set foot in the US before. For all that, their English was phenomenal. They comprehended my regular speed speech and responded fluently in conversational English with few mistakes in pronunciation. It hints at incredibly intense English education over there, complete with language immersion.

I can't believe it was only seven years ago that I was an eager-beaver freshman, enthusiastically chomping at the bit as I got ready for classes. I've felt a lot of things in the move and in the preparation for school and studio, but enthusiastic isn't one of them. At first I thought it was related to the stress of moving, or settling in, but now, with orientation, there's just not that level of excitement. It makes me a little concerned if I'll still have that level of enthusiasm once studio gets underway. That collegiate rush is missing, replaced by a kind of resignation mixed with determination to work hard. Post-professional graduate apathy? We'll see.