Orientation: Part Une

Today was the first half of orientation, which meant actual human interaction! I've so far met two other Americans, a Canadian, a German, a great many Chinese students, and one very friendly girl from Thailand named Boboo, who I ended up running errands with after the presentations were over. We managed to not get lost in the city center, picked up a bunch of random supplies for our respective rooms, and scoped out a grocery store much closer to campus, so it was an all-around successful excursion. There were two Lebanese students tagging along with us to begin with, as well as one of the Americans and the Canadian, but they finished their shopping before us, and went off on their own. Still, I managed to get some conversation in with them.

Comparing notes on driving, drinking age, and other universal details of life was fascinating. It's great to hear about the impressions America gives to the rest of the world--one of the Americans I talked to related to me that she had been asked whether all Americans drove like "The Fast and the Furious", which is both hilarious and disturbing. A second-year Indian student handing out fliers inquired of me whether we were far more "emotional" than the Brits. And Boboo had a particularly interesting impression from her excursion to Ohio--she was taken to church every Sunday by her host family, even while they assured her repeatedly that she wasn't obliged to do so. I may have ranted a bit about how divided in attitudes different parts of the States are in response. She luckily didn't seem to mind. She had notes to compare of her own, mainly about many of the South Asian countries, whose histories she's actually getting her master's in. I'm looking forward to talking to her again.

All that said, I'm also looking forward to actually meeting British people, of whom I've encountered very few except in passing. I managed to find out so far that my one flatmate is Nigerian, and awesome from what I've seen of her, but the rest have yet to move in. I'm hoping they're Brits, so we can ask stupid cultural questions and get a slightly more local flavor in the flat as well. Maybe they'll even be more on the arts-side of things, since most of the foreign students tend towards the sciences and social sciences. I could use a few less askance looks when I tell people my concentration!

In less fortunate news, I've been informed that practice rooms in the music department are only available to music students proper, so I'm now devising plans to circumvent such restrictions. There's one practice room in the Student Union, but that will likely be crowded. I think my best bet will be joining a choir, getting lessons, or joining an ensemble who have enough clout to talk the department into giving me access. There's an activity fair next week that will include such groups, hopefully, so I'll definitely be there. I'm always surprised when this happens, but I itch to practice. Go figure.

Tomorrow means more orientation, followed by possibly some decorating so that I can actually prop my door open with pride. Hello, poster sale! And hopefully, hello more friends! I am not quite as socially awkward as I feared.