Welcome To College

Despite all of the preparation my high school and friends had given me, I didn't really know what to expect when our rental car stopped at the curb across the street from my dorm. I thought that I would feel some sort of gripping fear or anxiety, but it seemed like just another day to me. Thomas and I removed our bags from our cars, handed them over to frat boys we didn't know who were assigned to take them to our rooms, and proceeded to the main dorm on our quad to get our keys and access cards.

After moving in, we were submitted to the whirlwind that is New Student Orientation (NSO, one of the thousands of TLAs [three-letter acronyms]) of WPI--even the college's common name is a TLA! We listened to speeches about succeeding in college, high-fived over a thousand people (our class is about 1040 students,) got tons of free food, played rubber chicken volleyball--all the usual stuff. Then, it was time for classes...

...Which have been pretty manageable so far. For those who don't know, this quarter I am taking PH1111, which is a calc-based physics mechanics course, MA 1024, which is Calculus IV (multivariable and stuff,) and Fundamentals of Music I, which is "this is a note!" For the first three days at least, the work load has been fine. I love taking calculus-based physics; the professors have lifted the curtain that prevented our prior teachers from admitting that the basic kinematic equations are related through calculus. I also switched into Calc IV from Calc III, which in retrospect was an excellent move because I love multivariable and hate series. Fundamentals of Music I is pretty easy; we're going from "this is a staff!" to ear training, so it's starting off slow and will hopefully pick up soon.

Now for extra curriculars(ssssss because I am, of course, in all of them.... >.>)

Game Development Club

There are two parts to this club: a development side and an events side. The former is self-explanatory and the latter puts on tournaments and gaming nights and things. You can guess which one I will end up doing if I stick with this club. :P This weekend we reserved a lecture hall to project matches from MLG Raleigh. We had to cancel on Sunday due to the hurricane, but it's really cool that they did that for us. Not too many people showed up because it was last minute, but I'd love to get more organized MLG parties and tournaments going in the future.

Choir

The choir here is amazing. It requires no audition, because they believe that all engineering students should know how to sing or do something musical by the time they graduate (I know what you're thinking, yes, this school was made for me!) I just did my vocal placement, nailed the ear training section, and showed up. Though it was an informational meeting, we jumped right into singing in between powerpoint slides about all of the options for vocal performance at WPI. The WPI chorus was featured on a Grammy Award-winning CD--needless to say, it was pretty awesome. I am excited for the first rehearsal for the women's chorus tomorrow, and the trip to New York City at the beginning of October! Details about this trip forthcoming.

Robotics

Mentoring a FIRST (italicized for Roxy <3) robotics team is really intense, especially for a college freshman, so I don't think I will get too involved in the team this year. However, I do intend to work on off-season projects, volunteer for events, and get shop certified so I can use the 11 CNC machines in the Washburn shop whenever I want! Thomas' roommate already has an idea for an engineering project, but for now I will keep it a secret. :P

Additionally, this Sunday was the first official video conference meeting of the 2011 Dean's List Winners! We had a bit of trouble with the technology at first, but we got a few things accomplished and have more in the works. It was really great to see everyone again; I've only been away from Manchester for a week and I already miss all of them!

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Tonight pretty much summed up my social life at WPI. Thomas and I grabbed some dinner after our math class, and then had our first laundry adventure (which of course involved starcraft.) Then, my roommate and I met with two of the guys from upstairs, and we walked over to Fuller for the Outing Club meeting. There, we learned that we could pay $20 to have unlimited access to a slackline and access to WPI's climbing wall from 7-10 every weeknight FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR! That sounds like a sweet deal to me (parents, take note.) They are also planning a kayaking trip soon, which I may go on if it isn't too expensive (again, my mom and dad don't know this yet and will probably find out by reading my blog... >.>)

After the meeting, the four of us walked to the library and rented movies for a movie night we're planning for tomorrow after the ice cream social that our dorm is having. Then... the best part of the whole evening! We were walking back to our dorm across the quad, and we saw tons of people larping... we asked if we could join, and they handed us swords and helped us jump right in! I love going to a nerd school. :)

Congrats! You have made it to the end of this unusually long post, or at least skimmed to the bottom much like you would for an end users' license agreement. I promise to write shorter entries with greater frequency; it just takes a significant word count to capture the way one's life can change entirely in one week. For those who are interested, I will post my recount of the Dean's List trip later in the week when it is not a time I should be in bed.

Friends and family, please comment with how you are doing! I miss you and want to hear from you.

Much love,

Lydia