It’s been far too long since I’ve updated this, so it’s definitely time to appraise you all of my experiences. I guess I’ve only been at classes for a week now, but it seems like I’ve been here so much longer. There are still a lot of things I have to learn of course, but I can definitely get around and deal with most things that come up.

Classes have been intense, and since it’s only the first week I imagine things will get even more hectic around here. My math and physics seminar have been consistent work, but they’ve been very doable. French on the other hand has been pretty brutal. I just don’t feel comfortable with my vocabulary at this point, so I’ve had to study on my own a lot outside of class. The prof. in that class is really good, but it’s definitely on a different level than French at Millard West.

Orchestra has been okay so far. The group sounds pretty good, but it’s not as close knit as OAYO or even the MW orchestra. That said, I’d forgotten how much I enjoy playing orchestral music, so I’ve been enjoying. For those who care, we’re playing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, Bernstein’s Overature to Candide, and Lizst’s Les Preludes (which we played in OAYO a couple of years ago). Good literature, all.

Sorry I haven’t been a very profound blogger lately. Everyone else has been posting on deep topics, and here I am merely regurgitating my schedule. Maybe I’ll think of something significant to say at somepoint, but until then, my regards.

Well here I am, sitting in my dorm room listening to Radiohead and updating my blog. Not the most eventful Friday night in the world, but to be honest I’m glad to have a bit of time to myself. It’s been an eventful week, an enjoyable week, a long week, a stressful week, and just about everything in between. The college has tried very hard to provide activities for freshman during New Student Week, and while I applaud their refusal to let anyone get lost, it’s been difficult to establish a routine of any sort yet. Everyday is different, and its an achievement just to remember where to go when.

I registered today, and I got all of the classes I wanted, which was exciting. This term I’m taking Linear Algebrea, French 103, and my Freshman Seminar, Complexity and Chaos. (For those who think I’m a slacker, 3 classes is a full schedule at Carleton). It seems like so little work, looking at my schedule and realizing I only have one class (French) on Tuesday and Thursday, but I know that such is not the case. There is an awe in people’s voices when they speak of the workload here, and I look forward to Monday with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.

On the extracurricular front, I audition for orchestra tomorrow afternoon. Pretty much any string player can be in orchestra, so the audition is really more for chair placement than anything else. I certainly don’t care about placement, I’m just looking forward to seeing the ensemble repertoire. I also signed up for lessons today, so hopefully those will start soon. I have work orientation (food service) tomorrow as well, so I guess I will soon know all the thrilling secrets of the institutional cafeteria.

Well, I’m back. I returned from the pre-frosh trip in Minneapolis this afternoon tired, but fairly content. The trip was essentially summer camp with fewer rules, which definitely had some good points and some bad points. As a group, we bonded pretty well, and I feel like there are some friendly faces on campus now. That said, one definitely survives summer camp by exploiting its temporary nature (i.e. living out of suitcases), and it didn’t necessarily prepare me much for what’s ahead. There will still be a whole bunch of people here tomorrow, and I still will know very few of them. That said, I’ve found some people I can hang out with, and that is very important in and of itself.

Group dynamics aside, the trip was quite interesting on its own accord. We stayed in an urban retreat center in a “bad” part of Minneapolis and worked at a variety of non-profit service organizations. The twin cities are a very diverse community, and there were a lot of really neat programs to address important social issues and help those caught in the crossfire. One of my favorites was a place called In the Heart of the Beast. It was a puppet and mask theatre that put on shows dealing with various social issues. When I say puppets, I don’t mean little kids stuff, these were really elaborate performance art productions that combine skilled craftmanship, acting, and music. I thought it was really interesting to see the arts were playing an integral in community building.

New Student Week officially starts tomorrow, so I will finally meet my roommate and get some information about the weeks and months ahead. Hopefully I will be able to post my experiences on this blog fairly regurally, though who knows how much time I will have. With that I’m off to bed – it’s been a long day.

Wow. I’m posting this from my dorm room, and I must admit, despite my cool and collected exterior (You did know I had one of those, right? :), I can’t help but being a little overwhelmed.

My dorm room is actually quite nice, and my parents and I managed to get everything unpacked without too much trouble (admittedly with a few runs to Target). My roommate isn’t going on a pre-frosh trip, so he doesn’t move in until next Wednesday. Though I certainly want to meet him, it was nice to have the room to myself while I was moving in. The only real concern I have is finding enough desk space. Maybe I’m the only geek whose desk looks like a travelling Best Buy display, but things could get tight when I actually have legitimate work to do. Ah well, there’s always the library.

It’s been a little surreal today because there aren’t *that* many people here. It seems that there are maybe a half-dozen or so moving into each floor today, with the rest to follow in the next week. The absence of people means I haven’t really had a chance to meet anyone or figure out how things work yet, though I did run into to some people I met last summer. There’s supposed to be a picnic thing for the trips tonight, so I guess I’ll figure some stuff out then.

I don’t know quite what to think about the trip into Minneapolis at this point. I hope it will be a good way to get to know some people, but it’s a little weird to go on a four day trip right after I got moved in. I think the potential pros outweigh the cons, so I’ll just have to see how it goes.

I’ll try to post again when I get back on Tuesday or Wednesday. Until then, my regards.