Orientation

 Orientation, June 13-18

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    On June 13th, my family and I loaded up the car and drove down to Florida for my FYA orientation. Before we made the trip to Tallahassee; we stopped for a miniature vacation at the beautiful Saint George Island. For two days and two nights we enjoyed the beach and all that the island had to offer.

June 16

    After leaving Saint George Island for Tallahassee in the morning we stopped at Sonny's BBQ for lunch and then shopped for some merch at Garnet & Gold. Finally, the time came when the first thing on the orientation itinerary was to check into the dorms at Wildwood Hall at FSU. Afterwards I walked to the student union with my orientation roommate to meet the rest of the study abroad students. Fortunately, I had already had brief communication with a couple people prior to orientation which made finding and meeting the other students going to London much easier. The rest of the night, I played pool and mingled with many other people also going to London.

June 17

    After several restless hours in the early morning, I got out of bed to shower and walk to breakfast. We began the days activities back at the student union where the university dropped loads of information on my head for about 2 hours straight. This trend continued for the rest of the day with the only thing that changed was the setting of the lecture. I sat in a giant ballroom in the student union, a standalone theater with no attached buildings, and a classroom in the college of where my major is housed ( College of Social Sciences & Public Policy). We adjourned meetings for the day to get dinner at 5:30. After dinner some new friends I made who are also going to London went to the recreation center to knock the rust off on the basketball court. Needless to say, we got our asses kicked up and down the court. My suite mates and I finished the night by getting some sushi and pot stickers and watching the Celtics win the NBA Finals.

June 18

    Today is the last day of orientation. first thing in the morning, everyone had to pack up their dorm and check out so the next wave of students can move in. After checking out, My suite mates and I walked to Suwannee dining hall to have breakfast, which was a nice change from eating at the student union for every meal the day prior. At 9 A.M., the entire orientation group was corralled into Moore Auditorium for a brief walk through of how to register for class by the orientation staff. When the walk through ended, we were escorted by major to the buildings where we would meet our academic advisor and plan our fall semester schedule. Being that I'm an economics major, I was led to the Bellamy Building which housed the College of Social Sciences & Public Policy. Thanks to many dual-enrollment credits; I have already completed a fair amount of general education credits, which gave me more freedom to pick classes that I wanted to take. I was lucky enough to be the first person called up to make my schedule which also means I was the first to leave. My parents and sister picked me up outside of Wildwood Hall at 11 A.M. EST and we started the long drive back to Dixon. We arrived back home at 1:30 in the morning, central time.