I just got back home (but not for long) from my freshman orientation at UC Irvine. It was a two day program called Student Parent Orientation Program, SPOP. And for those of you not attending UCI, you missed out on something wonderful because SPOP was honestly one of the best experiences of my life. I don't know how other colleges do their orientation, but ours started out like what you would expect: a simple welcome talk, a few fun facts, then lunch and signing up for classes. Once all the boring stuff gets done, we checked in to our rooms for the night at the Mesa Court residence halls (dorms). The dorms buildings are very nice and the area they are located in is actually quite beautiful. The bedrooms are slightly bigger for doubles than I've seen at other universities but the buildings actually don't have air conditioning (actually not too big of a complaint since the weather is very mild, especially in the morning and evenings).
Now the fun begins. After house check-in, we start off with basic introductions (name, major, hometown, something that makes us happy). Next we have a few short activities before they make us attend a seminar (the seminar was basically high school health class over a span of an hour). So I lied, Now the fun begins. That night, sleep was optional. a handful of us retired to their rooms while the rest of us prepared for the SPOlymPics.
My team totally won but the big prize turned out to be a combination of "You're all winners! :D" and street cred..
It's probably not as exciting, if at all, to only be reading about it. Actually, it really is one of those "you had to be there" things. So I'm not gonna go into more detail. All I can say is that it was a wonderful experience. The staffers did a great job. The semester hasn't even started yet and I already feel integrated into the campus life. I got to meet my first real group of college friends. All my fees and life needs are being taken care of. Checklist complete. Bring it on Freshman year. UC Irvine class of 2016 加油!!!
