NYU Freshman Orientation Adventure (Arriving and the beginning of Day One)

The plane ride up to New York wasn't bad at all. I had a layover at Chicago midway where I had McDonalds for the first time in forever. I also got to watch a CBS special about Lance Armstrong. Whoopdee Freaking Doo. I studied some of my Spanish and made some more progress in Catch 22. Nothing big. I spent a lot of the plane ride, ironically, playing skydiver on my cell phone and beat my high score by like 3,000 points. Small victories people, small victories.

Once I landed in Newark, getting to my residence hall was somewhat of an ordeal. First of all the baggage claim took forever to spit my one suitcase out. I waited for twenty minutes at least, and I worried that the airline lost my luggage in the Chicago transfer. I flew ATA for the first time, I believe. I can't say flying on that airline endeared me very much to them. Cramped seats, delays, a really rough landing in Newark. The thought of spending three days in New York without my clothes, toiletries, and other various necesities concerned me a great deal. I had money in my carryon, but nevertheless. Fortunately, the conveyer belt eventually came by with my suitcase on it. I took a bus from the airport to Grand Central Station, followed by a subway ride from GCC on 42nd to Astor Place/W4th. From there it was a short walk to Weinstein, the residence hall I stayed at during Orientation.

I checked in at the front desk and unloaded all my stuff up in my room. Once I got settled, I went down to the student lounge where a bunch of people were watching Napoleon Dynamite. That movie gets funnier every time I watch it, plus I saw the wedding scene for the first time. I was supposed to meet up with M.S. for a little bit, but some supposed falling asleep was invovled, and if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. I met my room mate right before going to bed.

The next morning (the 11th) we woke up and rolled down to breakfast where we both had what I would call questionable muffins. I was not sure whether they were supposed to be Banana Nut or Streusel or what, and apparently the people who made them weren't sure either. We headed upstairs for the Dean's Welcome and had to suffer through a slew of pop music while we waited. They asked who was here from the farthest away, and there were two guys from Hawaii, one of whom was sitting right behind me. The leader of Orientation said he could win a bag if he could name five New York sports teams, and so I fed him the answers because he had no idea. (Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Knicks, sorry no love for the Rangers or the Islanders) The other Hawaiin guy named the five boroughs of NYC (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, The Bronx).

Then I met my orientation group...

More of my harrowing adventure to come.