Orientation - Part 2

day 2 -

day 2 started early because i wanted to bike to school. and i wanted to arrive there early to read (cool down and allow me to stop sweating like a fat pig). after i stop sweating, and more people are coming in, i join a "social" circle. we talk and hang for a bit before day 2 of orientation started. now, before i shipped off to grad school, my dad gave me a big talk about being and adult and "looking the part" and being responsible. while i greatly appreciate his talk, and mostly agree with what he was saying.....but my version of a young adult is going to look a little different than the adult that he has in mind. he is just going to have to live with the fact that im not going to look like his idea but rather look like mine.

so im going in expecting everyone to take everything seriously and "look the part". then comes pete chung (my new annyong, since danny isnt in vancouver). he sits down, and reveals his finding nemo backpack. yes. thank you. now i dont feel stupid for wearing my airbrushed "Graham" shirt from the state fair.....with grease stains from the deep fried twinkies and oreos i ate.

orientation was all the same, for the most part......of previous students, faculty, and professors talking about regent and life at regent. it was all helpful and funny. the breaks and lunches were where everyone could talk and hang out. this was my favorite part because i could actually start making friends. REPLACING all the LOSERS in north carolina.

pete, eugene, and i talked for the most part of lunch. pete went to uva so the whole time we would talk about southern food (sweet tea, bbq, bojangles, etc) and our mouths would water and we would just get so excited. eugene, being from vancouver, would just laugh, make fun of us and say, "no wonder why all americans are fat and unhealthy!" i weigh 4000 pounds.

once orientation was over, i went to get my U-pass. i stayed in LINE with bessie (another regent student) for such a long time. bessie is super nice. she works at the hospital across the street and schedules her work so she can come take 1 class. i finally get it and we walk out with pete and eugene. (they came just to hang out with us in line)

well usually, we would just depart and join up again the next day, but no, not today. there was a BBQ planned at the beach! GOODY! FREE FOOD! i weigh 4000 pounds

thanks to mr. vancouver (eugene), the native of vancouver, we take the "scenic" route to the destination. its always cool to be fashionably late. almost everyone from orientation and even all the previous students helping out with orientation were there to hang out and have the good times. josh, an australian second year, asked anyone if they wanted to play some aussie rules football. i of course said yes because im zany and always willing to try anything new. so zany.

there werent enough people to actually play a game so we did the australian version of "dudes throwing the football back and forth on the beach". we just kicked this graham version of a football back and forth. everything was going peachy until one kick went long and while a guy was looking up in the air to catch it, ran right into 3 bikes that here leaned up against a bench. he claims he was fine but im sure it hurt. half of us were yelling at him to warn him of his painful destiny. the other half kept silent.....probably thinking, "i wonder how this is going to end up.."

the BBQ was delicious. thick burgers between a foccocia bread. i ate 13.

its really neat how everyone is so friendly and willing to just talk and become friends. i just remember my freshman year orientation at undergrad being so quiet and lame. no one wanted to talk to no one. this time, its the opposite. everyone is becoming friends....cracking jokes....and even nicknames already.

well maybe just me and one of the previous students who was helping out with the orientation. nerida was from australia and was a third year Mdiv student. she said she was going to call me grizza. i laughed and told her that i was going to come up with a really good nickname for her. i decided to think of a nickname that i knew would piss her off. with her name being nerida, i assumed that she always has the frustrating time to explain that her name isnt "meredith" but rather nerida.  so of course, i ask if i could call her "meredith".  she looked at me and said she hears that all the time and she will punch me if i call her that.  so, there ya have it.  meredith will be her name! TILL SHE DIES!!!! or unless she kills me first.

so as the BBQ is winding down, i get word of people meeting up at a pub later.  i of course want to hang instead of sit alone at my apartment.  Dentry's is its name and it is actually super close to my apartment.  about in the middle between my apartment and school.  i bike to the pub and walk in, expecting only a handful of people....well pretty much everyone was there.  we FILLED the bar.  it was awesome.  everyone was drinking except for me because the bartender said it was a liability to have a drunk walrus running loose in the bar...but when i told him i was straight edge and he just looked at me in awe as if hes never seen a walrus talk.

the group of people around me were: eva, josh, mike, and makana.  makana was from hawaii and looks like the skinny version of this guy.  after the whole "where are you from" and other painfully basic (but necessary) questions, we moved on to movies and tv.  mainly arrested development (THANK GOD THAT I HAVE FOUND ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT FANS HERE), wet hot american summer, upright citizens brigade, south park, shawn of the dead, and hot fuzz.  i was super relieved when other "adult, serious, grad school" students were into stupid crude humor like myself.  GOODY YAY DIARRHEA!!

another cool thing that happened was that i met karibbean's friend dan.  apparently they would get hot and heavy at camp year after year.  so it was cool to meet him.....we frenched HARD for a couple seconds in honor of karibbean.  makana and dan told me about ultimate frisbee games that happen tuesdays and fridays.  i told them i would join and eat the disc.

day 3-

day 3 was SOOOOO INTERESTING.  i set my alarm on my phone but of course i forget to take it off silent.  so with a silent alarm, the wake up was doomed.  and because my blinds on my windows look like thick mats, there was no light coming in to wake me up.  i wake up (finally) and take a look at my phone.  1:30 pm.  awesome.  well, you missed day 3.  

orientation conclusion:

awesome.  5 stars. (out of 5?) it was so great meeting HUMAN BEINGS!  its really neat to think that everyone is coming from so many different backgrounds, so many different countries, and have so many different personalities but all arrived at regent college with very similar reasons.  so before anyone opened his or her mouth, there was already a sense of community.  we were all together as one.  another thing that was really cool and new to me was adding prayer and worship to an academic setting.  it was ok to acknowledge a sense of things sacred with studying theology.....nothing was forced to be 'just' objective.  ive always had a problem praying with small groups or praying aloud for the people around me because sometimes i feel awkward or uncomfortable but for some reason that issue just vanished when about 5 of us (nearly strangers) were praying for each other about fears, issues or anything that may concern the new stage of life we were entering.  it was really great.  i guess meeting new friends wasnt so bad either, especially after a month of near solitude.