I have had two incidences of vaguely feeling some sort of alumni school pride. :O And both have occurred post-graduation. Today was one of those days.
It started at 6am. What an un-kosher hour. Brother, dad, and I dragged our sorry butts awake and down to the campus. We arrived half an hour early and decided to take a quick run to the Burger King down the street for breakfast. I am So Starving. I could only manage three bites of my sausage-egg-cheese croissanwich and three pieces of tater tot/ hash browns before my cough-y throat would not allow it anymore. The school wanted us there by 7:30 and sign-in didn't commence until 8:30. Into the auditorium aka Ballrooms where we saw videos, listened to speakers, and visited a few booths. During an ice breaker, the peer advisers taught the group the school's fight song. They are the panthers with blue and gold blood. My blood, I found today, is actually tinged gold and green. :P While they prompted us to fist pump into, make a claw, and rake it across the air- I was so tempted to refuse and do my rock on-bull horns instead and stomp my feet. Lol. Go Bulls!
They finally separated the students from the parents and guests and our agenda consisted of being bombarded with presentations on what the students were being shown and every other resource available on campus. There were the typical questions, especially from first-timer parents that were pretty understandable. Even some from parents of older children who were already in that very college or other older institutes. But some. Ohhh some. Some were borderline ridiculous. If you honestly believe that your child will starve to death should they run out of money, wander onto a bus and be stranded at the docks during the wee hours in the middle of some drug ring, or cannot fathom what a roomful of trained advisers with tons of informative brochures and booklets are telling them to do step by step without you hovering over them, then just STOP IT. If you have such little faith in the possibility that you may have raised a competent human being- let alone one that is old enough to vote, enlist in the armed forces, and pay taxes to be considered an adult- or that little belief that the institution that the student either worked so hard to get into or that you are paying thousands upon thousands of dollars to get them there- then maybe neither of you should be there. Just keep them at home, coddle them for another year, and find some bull crap online mail-order degree instead. I mean really. Really now?!
Honestly, I applauded how well everyone of the presenters that we saw today did. They took on all these questions, comments, and concerns in great stride. I guess that's what happens after years of experience, tons of training, and a paycheck every other week can create. I'm glad to see that things haven't changed at all since I've gone. I really could have answered 98% of the questions very confidently and accurately after having gone through and dealing with all of it on my own at least a few times in the past few years. It was actually a bit of a confidence boost for me to realize that maybe I do know something about something that's kind of important. :) Now I really don't see why I can't figure out the challenges that I'm discovering now outside those hallowed halls. :P
We eventually had a lunch at the Subway on campus. It was a busy time of the day, I get that. Been there, done that. I remember. We had more than an hour to eat. I had this little wanker jostling into me the entire time we were waiting in line. The first time he knocked into my bag, he apologized. For the next fifteen minutes of nonstop bumping into me, there was no acknowledgment whatsoever. If you know me, you know that I don't like to be in people's ways. I'll scrunch up and move aside and I'm just really conscientious about that sort of thing. Idk, I don't like my personal space to be invaded by strangers, so I make it a point not to do that to others. Despite my best efforts and just short of climbing up on my brother's back, even though he almost ended up giving me a piggy back ride a few times, I am still being rocked into and elbowed and just constantly touched by this kid who was also apart of the freshman orientation.
Now, I do not condone bullying, especially of someone who seems to be at a disadvantage. But I was gearing up to clock this kid straight in the face. It is Extremely rare that I would want to beat up a freshman, but I was going to lay the smack down and kick that crap out of this kid. No one is pushing you, this isn't some stupid concert, it's the damn line to a sandwich buffet. REALLY?! UGH!!! It wasn't a bump every five seconds, it was non. stop. contact. That is not acceptable in my world. If my purse hadn't been stuffed with booklets and this little bugger was a little less pudgy, he would have owed me cab fare. That was how truly uncomfortable this experience was. Bless my brother though, he was so frustrated but grateful that I had come to show him support. Him letting me know and asking for my advice/ help distracted me enough from full out confronting that poor boy. I say poor and such with pity for him because mercy would be needed should he have begun to suffer my wrath.
Went back for more presentations and spiels, but we have received a bunch of free stuff throughout the day. Among the haul were drawstring bags, t-shirts, pens, a deck of cards, five spray pens of hand sanitizers, and a bottle of hand sanitizer. It's really kind of funny. There was a guy representing the technology services that had a goatee-beard thing that looked like a trident. It made me smile. :D We took a brief but hot tour of the campus in the middle of the day. There's this cute bridge that is known as the Kissing Bridge. It is said that any couple that shares a kiss on it will stay together forever. Aww... while we walked to the next spot, there was a teenage duckling that walked along side our tour group at the exact pace that we were wandering. He followed us down the entire hallway, it was so darn cute! There was also a large Rubix cube structure commonly referred to as the Spinning Cube that is supposed to give one good luck on an exam if they spin it all the way around. It just seems fun to play with. :P Lastly, we did see the seal- which you're not supposed to step on because it's bad luck to disrespect what it symbolizes for the university.
Gah, I'm sure there were a ton more presentations that I can't even remember the differences without looking at the extensive itinerary. We ended up having dinner (included with the orientation price) at the dining hall. Still packed with people as the student services continue to try to woo us by dj-ing party music. All the advisers got into a dance and were jamming all together. A few current students even joined in! It was great fun to watch as I attempted to eat some pretzels and pizza. It was not a very successful endeavor. We ended up high-tailing it home after that, skipping out on a few more presentations and a social pizza-ice cream party thing that was going to happen around 9pm. No thanks. We were tired, cranky, and exhausted.
I came home and my brain shut off. The next few hours passed in the blink of an eye and here I am. Still cranky about the whole ordeal of today. Tomorrow, my brother and I will be there yet again at 7 in the freakin' morning. We better be done earlier. Neither of us want him to miss out on really helpful information so we're praying they cram it in asap. Yes, this orientation is a two day exploration and the students were given the option of staying overnight in one of the dorm rooms! How intense. Great chance for the kids to test drive but jeez! That is so much to go through. I know he learned a lot today and it was just a review for me to remind me what I can talk to him about to help him through this stage. Please, please, please let tomorrow be a much easier day. T_T There are people I want to see and things I want to do with my day. Ugh, I'm buckling at the idea of another long day already. Good game, good game.
Wish me luck! Hopefully, I have nothing but good things to report. LOL. Right. I'm too... much of a jerk for that. XD <3
No comments:
Post a Comment