Letting the days go by...

So now, I will tell you about orientation. Because, I feel like it, that's why.

I arrive at Morrill Hall (It is 7:30 A.M.) I am tired, I am lugging a black bag with my stuff in it. It's not heavy, so I start dragging along the pavement to the entrance. It's up a hill. Great. I kind of stop at the entrance, this guy asks

"Are you here for orientation?"
"...Yes"
"Well go in these doors and up the stairs to your right."
"Okay, thanks."

I do as instructed. Okay, I go into this place. Signs everywhere. Of course, they are ORANGE. Check-in here, go over here, get some paper, get a lot more other stuff, get room key, get instructed on everything I could possibly need to know in the 15 minutes it takes me to get to my room. I am out of the carousel. That was stressful! So I head back down the stairs to the elevator. I sort of stand there. I don't know what's going on. The signs clearly indicate what to do and where to go. But I am stressed out. So I just stand there until a nice man tugs my sleeve and tells me that I should get on the elevator.

Okay, sure.
I board the elevator and it goes to the 10th floor. Wait, what room number am I? I don't know. I don't know...I don't-- Wait, I have this key in my pocket. Room 930. Sure, okay. That's better. We arrive on the 10th floor. I have arrived! I am excited! Wait, I look around. The signs all point in the four cardinal directions. Rooms 1000-1010, east. Rooms 1011-1021 north. And so on and so forth. I go down every hallway. No room number 930. I must be in the wrong place. I retrace my steps. Maybe I missed a sign. Nope.

Hm.
So I sneak to the emergency stairs and slide down a floor. (Because I didn't want to use the elevator) I go down every hallway, finally in the last hallway I find my room. I am excited about meeting my roomate! I fiddle with the lock for an hour or so. I open the door to----NO ONE.

Right...
Well, she's not here. I'll claim the bed by the window. Hm, now what? I rummage through my things waiting for her to show up. I stand in the middle of the cold, white, uncomfortable room. I don't know why, I have always been a little afraid of white rooms, as well as flourescent lights. They make me uncomfortable and nervous. And guess what? This cozy little slice of home, well, it had both. So I stood there for a minute or two. Finally I just got so anxious that I had to get out of the room. I went back downstairs and was guided to the "UC"

UC?
I followed a large group of people who I assumed to be my fellow orientation-ers, (most of the time, this works) I finally start seeing more ORANGE signs with big WHITE arrows pointing to the "University Center" (Ah, so that's what UC means). I get herded into the hallway and follow several people to get my student ID made. Some girl left her driver's liscense. I gave it back to her. So after this I walk into the "UC" auditorium, I sit down. For a moment I think I am in the wrong place.

THERE ARE SO MANY PARENTS! I felt out of place. So I sat in the back, by myself. I was examining my the mole on the back of my wrist on my right hand when a girl from my Wildlife Class in high school (I love you Mr. Savery!) came up and sat next to me. I said "Hi" and we made small talk for a few minutes. Complained how hungry we are. (I don't eat breakfast, I should) I leave and look for something to eat. I was afraid I would get lost, so I didn't go very far. I went and sat back down and the orientation started. An introduction to the parents, then the students. Introducing us to our orientation leaders. Eventually we are split into our groups. My group leaders were Erica and Tony. And supposedly we were the "crunk group". Yes, because I am so "crunk". We go outside and get in a big circle. We introduce ourselves.

"Hi my name is Bonnie McClure, I live here, in Knoxville, TN, my major is Fashion Design, I will be living at home."
Not so hard. The circle went around.

Now we get to play A GAME! Yes, a game! It's called..

"I'm a Vol, you're a Vol."
It goes a little something like this. Someone gets in the center of the circle and says,
"I'm a Vol, you're a Vol if......you are wearing green."

Then everyone who is wearing green tries to find another spot in the circle. Sort of like musical chairs, but you can't be next to the person you were next to when you started. We play this game for a little while. I didn't really like it. Everyone got all competitive and started pushing and stepping on toes. I guess that's why we were told to bring tennis shoes. After finishing the game we were told a littleabout our orientation and then we were taught the "Big Orange Country" cheer.

Okay, so I liked this! We got to yell really really loud. And I like that.
So, if you see another unsuspecting group nearby you yell as loud as you possibly can,

"BIG ORANGE COUNTRY!!!!!!!"
And they yell back,
"GO VOLS!!!!!!"

Whoever is loudest, wins. Our group always won. Even against three other groups combined. Yeah, don't get around me when I am excited.

Anyways, we started our first campus tour. We were showed a few dormitories and blah blah, and then we went to the library. I don't usually like libraries. But I like that one. Tony said we could do "Big Orange Country" in the library, but we never did. I guess it was a joke. Too bad, I was all excited. The library has everything you could ever need. It even has a Starbucks INSIDE of it. Yeah, just to give you an idea.
After our tour of the library we went back to the "UC" and got split into our colleges. I didn't listen. I have good reasons. Just wait.

One: The girl's belt beside me was making a squeaking noise against her chair when she moved. I couldn't concentrate.
Two: Squeaky Girl and her friend kept talking and making snide comments about the director. I couldn't concentrate.
Three: I started looking through our "guidelines" book. It helps you decide on which classes to take for your major.
Four: The two guys sitting beside me kept staring at me, they looked dangerous.
Five: I found out my intended major does not exist at the University of Tennessee.

Good reasons? Yeah, I know. They are.
We got out of there, I was very relieved. We went into the "UC" auditorium and listened for a little while about different meal plans for students on campus. I sort of dozed off. I couldn't listen ABOUT food when I was so hungry. So finally we get out of there and head to the dining room for lunch. The guy behind me was standing too close. He was a "mouth-breather". It made me nervous, I was going to introduce myself. But I think we were already pretty much aquainted with him pressing against me so hard. I went and set my stuff down on a table. No harm in it, right? I go get lots and lots of food to eat. (It looked good) I sat down where my stuff was. There were like 12 people gathered around my one seat that I had claimed. I am hereto meet new people, I sat down and said "Hi" and introduced myself to everyone. A nice smile and a handshake to those closest to me. I figured out why everyone had sat here.

Susan.
The girl I had just met. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, white teeth, perfect skin, large breasts. Hm, I won't judge. Okay, so why do people always seem to fit their stereotype? I don't know.

"I really don't know what I want to do. I like lots of stuff, like, like, I play tennis! Tennis is fun! I like tennis!"
Okay, that's good. anything else?

--Silence--
"Well you guys are nice! Nice people! I am here to meet new people!'
Happy, bubbly sort of person.

She was nice enough I guess. Oh well I am just jealous that I am taller than average and my breasts aren't big and I don't have perfect skin.
I sulk for a little while. Oh well.
I engage one guy in a conversation. I have made a new friend. His name is Ryan. He is from Morristown, TN. His major is Journalism. Sure he's a bit bland. But that's okay. At least I have someone to talk to now. So Ryan and I start following the masses out to...somewhere. I am not exactly sure where I am going! Okay, we are headed to the "Alumni Building". And, we are going to take...

Placement Tests.

Ryan and I sit next to one another. We laugh and talk about the dumb tests. We are given instuctions on where to go and what to do. My German exam is being held in the "Humanities" building. We are going to follow Erica to get there. Okay, we hike up this mountain and go into this valley and then over a small hill and up some stairs. We are there. There are six of us taking the test. Six. We sit at the wonderful Apple computers. Yes, all Apple, No stupid Windows in sight. then I remember I have to take a placement exam. Damn.

I take a deep breath while we a recieving instuctions. I can't concentrate. I am nervous.

"Begin."
So, we have to write the answers to the questions down in German. Cool. Okay, I can do that. I get finished with my written exam. I am proud of what I did. I started the computerized part of the test. I failed that part I am pretty sure. I knew eerything except like what the key words meant. Damn. I got done second so I made my way back to the "Alumni Auditorium"

Math placement exam.
I guessed. A LOT.
Oh well, I don't plan on being any sort of math major anyways.

We went to some skits and stuff afterwards. I fell asleep. I was doing the head-nod thing. Where you jerk really hard when you wake up? Yeah, that was me. Ryan made fun of me. Agh. After that we got to go to "Special Interest" sessions. Boring.
TIME FOR DINNER! Yeah yeah, we had this sort of "MTV Movie Awards" dinner. Napoleon Dynamite was there (not the real one of course). He made me giggle a little. After dinner we watched some more skits about what not to do in the dorms. Boring.
Okay, we go back to the dorms and I sit around in my room for a little while. Wait, no roomate? Yeah, you're right! No roomate. Yet.
We go to our OL's room and sit and look at each other. Then we head to "T-RECS" for a party. I get there, I talk to some girl in my group. I start wandering. I find these girls playing Halo. I start playing, some guy comes and kicks our asses.
I have never played before.

"Haha, I just ran you over girly. You are dead!"

Yeah, you bet. Revel in the glory of beating someone who has never played before. Idiot.
I went back to the dorm and made my bed. I couldn't sleep because of the scary room so I called David and talked to him for the first time.
I set my alarm after getting off the phone. I turned over and went to sleep.

It's 6:30 A.M. I am SO tired. My phone is buzzing under my pillow (where it always goes). I groan and roll around and kick the walls. I am not happy. I put on some clothes that I had laid out so I would be able to get up and out faster. I pack all my stuff into a bag. I look out my window to see what everyone else is doing.

I fumble down to the check-out station. I turn in my keys and check in my bags to pick up later. Today is going to be a long day. I go to "T-RECS" again to pick up my ID card. Great, I look pissed off. Oh well. I get two huge muffins and wolf them down with some apple juice. I didn't realize how hungry I was. They had this huge thing set up in the gym for us to walk around and look at UT's various clubs and stuff. Woo....I grabbed a pamphlet from each one. I walked around a bit. I found Ryan. I introduced myself to a girl named Lillian and made friends. Cool. We had some more informational things going on and stuff. I was bored. I didn't pay attention.

Then LUNCH! Yay.
Then after lunch.....

Registering for classes. AGH. I go into the auditorium.
She calls out different colleges for people to be divided into.
Buisness, Nursing, blah.....blah....Arcitecture and Design (And all other art colleges....mumble mumble)

WAIT! What the..? Okay, I'll just sit here. Arts and Sciences is where my declared major is under....hm

So after everyone leaves. The college of Arts and Sciences is given a list of groups we are supposed to be put into....I look at the list. My name is not there. Great, so I really was supposed to leave with the Design group. Dangit. Oh well. I get into Arts and Sciences as Undecided, and I get sent to an advisor. I walk to the "Humanities" building and find the place I was told to go. I walk in and we fill out an "academic plan" and then get advised on what classes to take according to our major. We go and wait in line to use the dumb computers to sign up for classes.

Almost done.

After registering for classes I walk back down to the "UC" for the last time in orientation. I pull out my surveys and stuff and stick them in my mouth and then I fish around for my meal card. We had to have all these things to check-out. I walk up to the desk and pull the papers out of my mouth. Dangit my lips are dry....

Here's a tip, never put paper in your mouth and then jerk it out. It makes a big bloody mess.

So I am free now. I put on my Ipod and walk back to Morrill to pick up my bags. This guy is like racing me. Okay. So we're both sort of power-walking. I get to the door first. I open it for him and say "I beat you" and he says "I know, I tried so hard, but I let you win". I grinned and went to get my bags. I picked them up and walked out of the doors to my mom's office.

I got home. I was so tired. I slept. I took a shower. I ate.
I am done.

Bonnie: University of Tennessee (student)