Hello again everyone!
After all the waiting, all the excitement, the apprehension, & the countdown to arrival, it has finally arrived.... Move In day at U Waterloo/Renison and Frosh Week! I can hardly believe an entire week has gone by! Orientation week is already over now and I’m really looking forward to starting my classes this week! I thought I would give you a bit of an update on some of my Orientation week experiences. It was great!! A good place to start was move in day at Renison, through to our AirBands competition at Renison Sunday night, which marked the official end to Orientation at Renison!
Frosh Day 1: I moved into Renison College Residence mid afternoon on Monday Sept 5th, 2011. I was a little late arriving because I had been feeling a little apprehensive about the 'big' move. There were so many feelings all at once! I couldn't wait to finally arrive at U Waterloo, to start classes, to meet new friends, and to keep in touch with friends from home, who are on campus & across the street at Laurier. I was so excited about my program! But because it is only four years old, I also started wondering if I knew enough about it, was it exactly the best fit for me? Doubts and apprehensions were all mixed up with my excitement. I was also concerned because I had experienced homesickness before and wondered if Waterloo was close enough to home for me to feel settled? There were so many questions, so much excitement, and so many feelings all at the same time, all at once. It is difficult to explain it, but it was almost a little overwhelming. But I pushed myself forward, putting all my positive feelings ahead of my worries & concerns! Once I arrived at Renison I was immediately welcomed literally at the front door by a group of upper year students who were incredibly understanding about my concerns and incredibly welcoming. It was as though they knew how I felt and sprang into action, to literally move me forward, to help me move my things into residence, and really accept me into a new family here. I am really close to my family and I knew I was going to miss them, and no one could take their place. But my Renison family has filled a new place in my life I didn't know was even there. These upper year students helped me carry all my bags and carefully chosen storage bins into my residence room. There I finally learned what floor I was assigned to, and met my new roommate! I was nervous about my choice to have a roommate, was that right for me? Should I have asked for a single room? I had wondered all summer about my roommate. Would I like her? Would she like me? Would she be in the same program as me? Would we both be early risers? Would she like to stay up all night? All my questions were answered almost right away that same day! I like my roommate! Most importantly, we both respect each other’s privacy, space and time. I think we are off to a great start! She’s in a different faculty, but one that is still pretty intense and demanding like Engineering. I like to go to bed pretty early, so I was worried about getting enough sleep. My roommate is great, and although she stays up later than me, she doesn't seem to mind if I turn the lights off & go to sleep earlier. So far things have worked out really well! I also met the rest of my floor mates right away. We had a 'floor meeting', before I had even finished unpacking! Some of the students on my floor are in the Social Development Studies, which is a program located in Renison. Some are in Math, & there are also some other Engineers on my floor too! After I had unpacked and said goodbye to my parents, I went with my Don & my floor to the PAC (Physical Activities Complex), where we picked up our Orientation Packages. In Faculty of Engineering, we were split into colour groups for orientation week. I was assigned to the Light Purple Group, aka ... X-Men. The 'Light Purple' Frosh included students from all of the different Engineering programs. I didn't know how we would be split up for orientation, but it was great to meet other students from all the different engineering departments. I have met people from so many programs already! It's great! Luckily another student from Renison was also in my colour group so I was able to make friends with her pretty quickly too. After that, we went back to Renison for dinner, where we met the dons from the other floors and we were all given a little bit of a run-down about the house rules at Renison. After dinner, there was a bit of free time, then over to the Village 1 green for the first frosh activity, an icebreaker for everyone attending Waterloo. It was fun, but pretty cold outside that night, so I was happy to go back to my nice warm room in Renison. I had a Skype video chat with my parents about all the things I had already done. It was good to see them and talk to them about all the things I had already done in just a couple of hours! Skype has been great! It helps me work through feeling homesick, cause I can see my family and hear their voices, it's almost like being there, anyway, it helped me settle in a lot that first day. I realized I had just finished my first day at Renison, as an engineer Frosh at University of Waterloo!!! It sure went by really quickly! That first night everything felt different from home. But it was definitely a happy place, a really welcoming place, and a place I think is going to feel like an extra home away from home, before I realize it!! I went to sleep less worried about 'everything', and more looking forward to Day 2 and all the people I was going to meet, & the fun we were going to have not only over the next few days, but also over the Frosh week and all my years at University of Waterloo!! WOW!!
Frosh Day 2: On Tuesday, we met up bright & early with our colour groups for engineering. Mine was the Light Purple X-Men. We had an overview of the days events, and learned some important Engineering 'Traditions', this is SO COOL! Engineering feels like a family too, a 'brotherhood or sisterhood’, I met a LOT of great new people! Our first event was “Earn your Hardhat”. This event included a combination of water slides (On a very cold day I might add), a mud pit, and a lot more. We walked across the mud pit on a bridge made up of our Frosh leaders! We literally walked over their backs, talk about a literal metaphor!! During one presentation we met the Dean of Engineering and our Frosh leaders told us a bit about the history of Engineering Frosh. Suddenly a group of students called, EDCOMS, busted into the room that would wake up any sleepers! They were dressed in black shirts with chains, army pants, doc martins/army boots, sunglasses and CRAZY hair. Some of the guys had shaved their heads and gotten Mohawks just for Orientation Week! It was fun, but also pretty intimidating when we learned that they were the top 3% of their classes AND that they would be our T.A’s!!! I think I am going to like being part of the Waterloo Engineers group! I hope I will be able to be an EDCOM, but I'll likely pass on the Mohawk! They are definitely a really fun group of really bright students; I do NOT think tutorials will be dull in Engineering!! At lunchtime, we were sorted into our Engineering Faculties & had an opportunity to meet other students in the same program, as well as meeting some of the professors! I really liked hearing some of the older engineering students speak about their co-op experiences, the types of jobs they took, and the places they went. After lunch, we continued with “Earn Your Hardhat” All the frosh students were given yellow hardhats. I earned my own University of Waterloo Yellow Hard Hat!! THAT was pretty amazing! After we earned our hardhats, we went to have an aerial photo taken of the entire frosh group of 2011!! We ended up having to sit down on the grass in really tight clumps for almost half an hour, but the picture looks amazing, so it was totally worth it. I think it will be one of those pictures you keep forever and remember with a smile when you’re older. I think I 'll put a copy on my bulletin board for inspiration! Then we had learning sessions, led by the EDCOMS who explained some of the services for engineers available on campus. After that, back to Renison for dinner. Later that night was Variety Night. There was a haunted house, inflatable slides, Karaoke, and a lot more. My friend and I decided to go to see the hypnotist show which was HILARIOUS to watch! After that I went back to Renison and hung out with my new floor mates. What an amazing and eventful day! At the end of day 2, already Renison & Waterloo are beginning to feel much more familiar. I had an awesome day! I met a ton of new people, had a lot of fun, met my Profs, the Dean of Engineering & 'earned' my own hardhat!! I guess you could say I am getting 'integrated' into the life of an engineer at University of Waterloo!! I can hardly believe I am saying that, or that it is really true!! WOW!
Frosh Day 3: Wednesday, I had a day "off" while everyone else wrote the English Language Proficiency Exam. (I wrote the English exam during the 'Student Life 101' event I attended in early August). I used this 'extra time' on Day 3 to buy my textbooks, learn my way around campus, and hang out with my friend from High School. After dinner at Renison, we all went out for 'Glow in the Dark', which was a cross campus event. It consisted of glow in the dark face paint, chalk, and a game of 'glow ball,’ it was fun! Frosh Orientation has been amazing so far. I have met people in my specific engineering program, engineers from all the other program divisions, attended events with students from every University of Waterloo Faculty, met all my floor mates at Renison, and met all the other Renison students from all floors. All this in just 3 days!! . That's a lot of different groups of people!
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| The Tool |
Frosh Day 4: On Thursday, the Engineers kicked off the day with Junkyard Wars. What is that?? A very cool event! We were presented with a giant pile of "junk" and instructed to make specific objects using that junk. I helped our group make a rope out of: telephone wire, a hockey net, and duct tape, ... pretty inventive! The rope actually ended up being able to hold 440 pounds! YES we tested it & verified its weight load! Other things made from the "junk pile” included; water filters, water carriers, a catapult, and a Frankenstein! My team didn’t end up winning the event, but it was really fun to build, and to watch what the other groups built, & how they built it! After lunch, we attended a session called Engineering 101. We learned more about what the engineering program course load is really like. I was both relieved and nervous about that, both at the same time! What Engineering Counseling Services offer, what it means to be a P.Eng, as well as some great advice from upper year students! After this session, we got to meet “The Tool”. I wondered what exactly that might be....turns out “The Tool” is the Engineer’s mascot. It’s a 60-inch wrench that has been a symbol to the Engineers since the 1960’s. Only professional engineers, or EngSoc people assigned to protect it, are even allowed to touch it. After meeting the tool, we went to Single & Sexy. Single & Sexy was basically a hilarious show that deals with a lot of different issues that you might encounter during your first year. I won’t give away too much about it because that would spoil the hilarity! Later that night we had Monte Carlo evening, which was a semi-formal dance and Casino. The line to get into the event was a little long, it took about 1/2 an hour to get in, but that was ok, and then once we were in it was packed. We hadn't arrived early enough to get close to a casino table so my friend and I decided to go back to my 'rez' and watch a movie. Already the end of Day 3 at Waterloo/ Renison. Another action packed full day! Met even more people. So far one of my favorite things about school here is a real balance between working hard and playing hard, really being welcomed into a group of great people! The engineers and my residence are both a lot of fun, and incredibly welcoming. At the end of Day 3, I am beginning to feel like I belong here,... it's a nice feeling.
Frosh Day 5: Friday, the morning began with the 'Invocation Ceremony'! I had never heard of this before!!! It was an awesome & formal welcome to all first-years, into the University of Waterloo community! WE had a great speaker named Andy Thibodeau, the president of FEDS (The UW student union), and alum. It was a very fun and interactive way to learn about some of the ways to succeed in your first year! Next on the agenda was 'Cornerstones'. It included sessions that were designed to help us succeed in first year, find your way around campus, and manage your money. I attended the first two events and found them really helpful! That night, I went over to my friend’s residence for dinner. Her residence had a full candy store in it! I realized that if I had to see that everyday it would be pretty hard to resist candy for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It made me really appreciate the healthy meal options that Renison offers. My friend really likes her rez & I really like mine! We are all different & want/need different things in our rez. I realized at that point that Renison was beginning to feel much more like my home away from home, with something close to the same types of foods, where everyone sits down together to eat meals like one big family. Later that night the Engineers had a Scavenger Hunt. This was our last Engineering specific event of Orientation Week. It was pretty fun playing Game Shows with the other teams, and coming up with ridiculous questions, to match answers we were given. At the end of Day 5, I am realizing how quickly Frosh week is moving!! It has been amazing in every possible way and I think I am really beginning to settle in to my new home away from home at Renison.
Frosh Day 6: Saturday was 'Black & Gold Day'. It began with a kick-off carnival before the football game, University of Waterloo vs. University of Guelph. There were a ton of freebies, face painting (Of course in black and gold), and inflatables slides and games. Although we lost the football game 65-13, (ouch! what a score), and I got a sun burn (it had been so cold I forgot to pack sunscreen!), it was still a really fun day! Saturday night was the big Toga Party, Toga! Toga! Toga! We were even given directions to tie the toga up properly, so a simple sheet kind of looked like a toga. The Toga Party was one of my favorite full-campus events! It was great to see everyone there, from the Frosh Leaders, to EDCOM, and all the students having a ton of fun before the pressure of school starts next week! At the end of Day 6 I have met so many great new people, gone to a ton of parties, actually learned a little about 1st year, had a lot of good advice from upper year students, been to my first University Football game, first Toga Party & had an incredible action packed start to my university experiences to say the least and I got a sunburn. I have had a ton of fun so far. It's a great place to belong!!
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| Renison Airbands |
That’s all for this week! Check back next week to hear how my first week of classes went!!!
Emma :)
