Sunday, September 26, 2004
What a Welcome
Not much is going on around here today, so I figured I'd take the time to launch into a description of the Week of Welcome (again, to be referred to as "WOW"). So here we go.
The weekend we arrived here (9/11 and 9/12) was pretty low key. Dad and I had driven up to Pismo Beach the night before and stayed at the Best Western Shelter Cove Lodge. I'm not sure what kind of reputation Best Westerns have, but trust me, this one was good. Our building was about ten feet away from a cliff that dropped right into the ocean, and we had a room on the second floor. For dinner we went to this seafood restaurant called Steamers. Dad and I both had steak (go figure) and it was tasty. I swear we had the best table in that restaurant (which was also on a cliff overlooking the ocean). We were in the corner, on the side of the building that faced the sun setting over the Pacific. So hooray for good luck.
I had lots of dreams that night...I always have dreams when I'm nervous or when something is bothering me. (Well, I remember the dreams when I'm nervous...I suppose I always have dreams.) I dreamt all about what college was going to be like. All I remember specifically is that my dorm room was huge.
So the next morning we got up early and had our continental breakfast, and then set off to Cal Poly to try to beat most of the people who would be arriving there that day. To make a long story short, we checked in to the room and moved all of my stuff in. There was somewhat of a controversy because Kevin didn't arrive until late afternoon, so my stuff was already all in the room by the time he got there. I felt like I was putting all of my things where I wanted them, and leaving Kevin all the "leftover" space. But, we got it all figured out. I got to put my TV on top of the fridge so I could put other things on my dresser, and Kevin got the window side of the room. I think it was more than a fair compromise.
Anyway, we spent Saturday and Sunday running errands and getting me all settled in my new home. Dad left late Sunday afternoon, and that was pretty tough. It wasn't very emotional, but I knew inside that Dad was my very last link to home. When he left, I was cut off completely. It was a weird feeling.
On Monday we went to the WOW opening assembly, where they introduced the cheer and dance teams and the football team and the band, etc. Then we were organized into our WOW groups. I was in #422, which was comprised entirely of people who also live in Yosemite Tower 2. I hadn't met any of them before that time, but none of them seemed to know each other, either. After we had all assembled under our "422" sign (which was shaped like Mr. Peanut; our slogan was "Go nutty!") we played a bunch of games reminiscent of "Cut the Pie" and "Do You Love Your Neighbor?". Those were - at least for me - a lot of fun. I'm not sure whether or not everyone else was as amused as I was, though. After that we had lunch at the Vista Grande Cafe, affectionately known as "VG's." Then we met at our "SMP" (standard meeting place), which was in the Yosemite main lobby, to discuss the plan for the rest of the week. We went to Chili Peppers for dinner, a mexican fast food place that serves good burritos. That night was Wow-a-rama, where everyone gathered on one of the outdoor athletic fields and played more "Do You Love Your Neighbor" style games. I lost my keys out of my pocket halfway through it and was worried for the rest of the night, but luckily someone had found them and taken them up to the people in charge and the keys were returned to me.
On Tuesday we had a couple of tours of campus facilities...one was the Disability Resource Center and the other was some sort of career placement center where you could look for job offerings. We had lunch and then went to tour the rec center, which wasn't a tour so much as it was us getting there and the WOW leaders telling us to have fun. I wasn't dressed for the gym or for swimming or for racquetball, so I went back to the dorms and used the couple of hours of free time to take care of some errands. That night we had dinner and went to a hypnotist show for about an hour. The hypnotist had a good sense of humor and was very entertaining. It's hard to believe he got all of the people on stage (who were picked from the audience, and one was from our group) to do the things he did. He said hypnosis is actually just a natural state of deep relaxation, like when you're driving down the road and you realize you don't remember the last ten minutes. So I believe it all. But still, the people on stage were doing some pretty crazy stuff. Anywho, after the show our group went to the Mustang Lanes for bowling and billiards, which was fun. But here's where all this WOW stuff starts to get, uh, interesting. Brian, one of our WOW leaders (the other leader was Kristi, in case I don't get around to mentioning that later), decided that we should have a billiards tournament where the losers would that night have to go to the beach, strip naked, and go jump in the ocean. Danielle and I were the only two who refused to play. It was pretty tough, what with the peer pressure and all. But I didn't play. Long story short (again), they played through their tournament but never did go to the beach.
On Wednesday, we woke up and met in the common lounge on my floor to discuss Granny D, which we were supposed to all have read. Only four of us in the group had read at least some portion of it. The discussion we had really had nothing to do with the book but instead turned into a debate on the effectiveness of democracy (because, as I said, no one had read the book). So hooray for my first academic experience at Cal Poly. Later that day we went to a BBQ at Brian's house in celebration of Kristi's 19th birthday. There Brian and all of his roommates (who, by the way, are all under the age of 21) brought in a keg of beer, and told us to go crazy. And most of us did. It wasn't just drinking the beer, but people were doing things like keg stands (which apparently is where two people hold you upside-down by your feet and you chug as much beer as you can in a specific amount of time). Needless to say, a lot of the people in the WOW group were pretty out of it. Luckily I was driving so I was able to use that as my excuse to not get drunk. But the peer pressure was still immense. I felt like this goody-two-shoes dork who doesn't know how to have fun, a feeling that was augmented by the billiards incident the night before. I wanted to get out of there so bad, but I was driving so without me the group couldn't get anywhere in its entirety. After the BBQ we went to Pismo Beach. It was dark, foggy, and deserted, and there were rocks everywhere. With so many people so out of it, that wasn't the best place for us to be. Heck, we even misplaced one of the members of the group for a good 5-10 minutes. That beach was evidently a great place to go streaking, because a bunch of people took all of their clothes off and went swimming. It was absolutely insane. I wanted to be home with my parents and my mellow, rational friends. But I couldn't. That night scared the heck out of me. It was so stereotypical of college kids. I was expecting to find things like that, but it seemed like everyone in the group was enjoying it. I was worried that everyone out there was at Cal Poly to party, and that I would never find someone like myself who prefers a good game of Monopoly to a beer keg and a bunch of sorority girls. In fact, I'm still looking for those people now, and I'm still worried that I won't find a group of people I can love as much as my friends back at home.
Thursday and Friday weren't as bad. There were more tours of campus facilities, and presentations on things like sexual assault and drug and alcohol abuse. On Thursday night we went to a showing of "Slam Poetry," which was a mix of poetry, music, and comedy that was actually entertaining but slightly too long. Friday night was the big rock concert that everyone went to. This concert is of the kind where everyone dances and moshes and whatever the heck else they do. Two people had to be carried out unconscious. Yeah, this concert wasn't really my thing, and by Friday night I was so sick of doing stuff I had absolutely no desire to do just so I could fit in that I decided to stay home and do my laundry. The quiet and deserted dorms were welcome after a week of everything happening at once. But again, I felt horrible. How would you feel when everyone was at this awesome rock concert and you were in your room pairing your socks?
And that was the Week of Welcome. Everyone I had talked to before I came here said WOW was the best week ever, and that I would have so much fun. Well, I didn't really. WOW had its moments, but there were so many uncomfortable situations that were almost impossible to bear. I'd still advise people in my position to do WOW so they could get to know the people they'll be living with for the next year, but I certainly wouldn't tell them that it'll be the best week of their lives. It certainly wasn't the best of mine.
So, the moral is, appreciate what you have while you have it. I didn't realize how much I depended on my family and friends at home until I couldn't depend on them anymore.
I never know how to end these journal entries. I guess I should say that things aren't as ominous as they were during WOW. Now that classes have started people have cooled off somewhat. It's also easier to pick and choose what I want to do, because at any given moment there are so many people are doing so many different things and I'm not tied to any of them like I was to group 422. So I still have hope.
Josh
mood: homesick after having written this, but relaxed because I'm caught up with my classwork
music: obnoxious rock being played from down the hall
location: dorm
The weekend we arrived here (9/11 and 9/12) was pretty low key. Dad and I had driven up to Pismo Beach the night before and stayed at the Best Western Shelter Cove Lodge. I'm not sure what kind of reputation Best Westerns have, but trust me, this one was good. Our building was about ten feet away from a cliff that dropped right into the ocean, and we had a room on the second floor. For dinner we went to this seafood restaurant called Steamers. Dad and I both had steak (go figure) and it was tasty. I swear we had the best table in that restaurant (which was also on a cliff overlooking the ocean). We were in the corner, on the side of the building that faced the sun setting over the Pacific. So hooray for good luck.
I had lots of dreams that night...I always have dreams when I'm nervous or when something is bothering me. (Well, I remember the dreams when I'm nervous...I suppose I always have dreams.) I dreamt all about what college was going to be like. All I remember specifically is that my dorm room was huge.
So the next morning we got up early and had our continental breakfast, and then set off to Cal Poly to try to beat most of the people who would be arriving there that day. To make a long story short, we checked in to the room and moved all of my stuff in. There was somewhat of a controversy because Kevin didn't arrive until late afternoon, so my stuff was already all in the room by the time he got there. I felt like I was putting all of my things where I wanted them, and leaving Kevin all the "leftover" space. But, we got it all figured out. I got to put my TV on top of the fridge so I could put other things on my dresser, and Kevin got the window side of the room. I think it was more than a fair compromise.
Anyway, we spent Saturday and Sunday running errands and getting me all settled in my new home. Dad left late Sunday afternoon, and that was pretty tough. It wasn't very emotional, but I knew inside that Dad was my very last link to home. When he left, I was cut off completely. It was a weird feeling.
On Monday we went to the WOW opening assembly, where they introduced the cheer and dance teams and the football team and the band, etc. Then we were organized into our WOW groups. I was in #422, which was comprised entirely of people who also live in Yosemite Tower 2. I hadn't met any of them before that time, but none of them seemed to know each other, either. After we had all assembled under our "422" sign (which was shaped like Mr. Peanut; our slogan was "Go nutty!") we played a bunch of games reminiscent of "Cut the Pie" and "Do You Love Your Neighbor?". Those were - at least for me - a lot of fun. I'm not sure whether or not everyone else was as amused as I was, though. After that we had lunch at the Vista Grande Cafe, affectionately known as "VG's." Then we met at our "SMP" (standard meeting place), which was in the Yosemite main lobby, to discuss the plan for the rest of the week. We went to Chili Peppers for dinner, a mexican fast food place that serves good burritos. That night was Wow-a-rama, where everyone gathered on one of the outdoor athletic fields and played more "Do You Love Your Neighbor" style games. I lost my keys out of my pocket halfway through it and was worried for the rest of the night, but luckily someone had found them and taken them up to the people in charge and the keys were returned to me.
On Tuesday we had a couple of tours of campus facilities...one was the Disability Resource Center and the other was some sort of career placement center where you could look for job offerings. We had lunch and then went to tour the rec center, which wasn't a tour so much as it was us getting there and the WOW leaders telling us to have fun. I wasn't dressed for the gym or for swimming or for racquetball, so I went back to the dorms and used the couple of hours of free time to take care of some errands. That night we had dinner and went to a hypnotist show for about an hour. The hypnotist had a good sense of humor and was very entertaining. It's hard to believe he got all of the people on stage (who were picked from the audience, and one was from our group) to do the things he did. He said hypnosis is actually just a natural state of deep relaxation, like when you're driving down the road and you realize you don't remember the last ten minutes. So I believe it all. But still, the people on stage were doing some pretty crazy stuff. Anywho, after the show our group went to the Mustang Lanes for bowling and billiards, which was fun. But here's where all this WOW stuff starts to get, uh, interesting. Brian, one of our WOW leaders (the other leader was Kristi, in case I don't get around to mentioning that later), decided that we should have a billiards tournament where the losers would that night have to go to the beach, strip naked, and go jump in the ocean. Danielle and I were the only two who refused to play. It was pretty tough, what with the peer pressure and all. But I didn't play. Long story short (again), they played through their tournament but never did go to the beach.
On Wednesday, we woke up and met in the common lounge on my floor to discuss Granny D, which we were supposed to all have read. Only four of us in the group had read at least some portion of it. The discussion we had really had nothing to do with the book but instead turned into a debate on the effectiveness of democracy (because, as I said, no one had read the book). So hooray for my first academic experience at Cal Poly. Later that day we went to a BBQ at Brian's house in celebration of Kristi's 19th birthday. There Brian and all of his roommates (who, by the way, are all under the age of 21) brought in a keg of beer, and told us to go crazy. And most of us did. It wasn't just drinking the beer, but people were doing things like keg stands (which apparently is where two people hold you upside-down by your feet and you chug as much beer as you can in a specific amount of time). Needless to say, a lot of the people in the WOW group were pretty out of it. Luckily I was driving so I was able to use that as my excuse to not get drunk. But the peer pressure was still immense. I felt like this goody-two-shoes dork who doesn't know how to have fun, a feeling that was augmented by the billiards incident the night before. I wanted to get out of there so bad, but I was driving so without me the group couldn't get anywhere in its entirety. After the BBQ we went to Pismo Beach. It was dark, foggy, and deserted, and there were rocks everywhere. With so many people so out of it, that wasn't the best place for us to be. Heck, we even misplaced one of the members of the group for a good 5-10 minutes. That beach was evidently a great place to go streaking, because a bunch of people took all of their clothes off and went swimming. It was absolutely insane. I wanted to be home with my parents and my mellow, rational friends. But I couldn't. That night scared the heck out of me. It was so stereotypical of college kids. I was expecting to find things like that, but it seemed like everyone in the group was enjoying it. I was worried that everyone out there was at Cal Poly to party, and that I would never find someone like myself who prefers a good game of Monopoly to a beer keg and a bunch of sorority girls. In fact, I'm still looking for those people now, and I'm still worried that I won't find a group of people I can love as much as my friends back at home.
Thursday and Friday weren't as bad. There were more tours of campus facilities, and presentations on things like sexual assault and drug and alcohol abuse. On Thursday night we went to a showing of "Slam Poetry," which was a mix of poetry, music, and comedy that was actually entertaining but slightly too long. Friday night was the big rock concert that everyone went to. This concert is of the kind where everyone dances and moshes and whatever the heck else they do. Two people had to be carried out unconscious. Yeah, this concert wasn't really my thing, and by Friday night I was so sick of doing stuff I had absolutely no desire to do just so I could fit in that I decided to stay home and do my laundry. The quiet and deserted dorms were welcome after a week of everything happening at once. But again, I felt horrible. How would you feel when everyone was at this awesome rock concert and you were in your room pairing your socks?
And that was the Week of Welcome. Everyone I had talked to before I came here said WOW was the best week ever, and that I would have so much fun. Well, I didn't really. WOW had its moments, but there were so many uncomfortable situations that were almost impossible to bear. I'd still advise people in my position to do WOW so they could get to know the people they'll be living with for the next year, but I certainly wouldn't tell them that it'll be the best week of their lives. It certainly wasn't the best of mine.
So, the moral is, appreciate what you have while you have it. I didn't realize how much I depended on my family and friends at home until I couldn't depend on them anymore.
I never know how to end these journal entries. I guess I should say that things aren't as ominous as they were during WOW. Now that classes have started people have cooled off somewhat. It's also easier to pick and choose what I want to do, because at any given moment there are so many people are doing so many different things and I'm not tied to any of them like I was to group 422. So I still have hope.
Josh
mood: homesick after having written this, but relaxed because I'm caught up with my classwork
music: obnoxious rock being played from down the hall
location: dorm
