:: OH-ree-en-TAY-shun ::

yeeeeee-aaaah guess who just got home from a two-day orientation at everybody's favorite college!!!

…

you're totally right. it was way not that exciting. most of it was an exhausting, mind-numbing, information overload, and it is a little freaky how empty your brain feels at the end of the day, because you know that there was some SUPER-IMPORTANT piece of knowledge that the REST OF YOUR COLLEGE EXPERIENCE (at best) or the REST OF YOUR ENTIRE CAREER AND LIFE (at worst and most probable) rests on that little piece…and you're so tired you probably missed it. 

   which is kind of a sucky feeling to spend the day in. or the two days, if you're attending Everybody's Favorite College, which I am, which probably didn't need to be repeated. 

on the bright side, my orientation group was great. my "student orientation staffer" -- or, in the dearly-beloved college language of acronyms, my SOSer -- was taylor, and she was perky and pretty great. she knew a lot and she kept us going. go twizzlers, am I right? 

   then there was madyson, jordan, nathan, bailey, cj, jennifer, kaelin, and maggie. I have rated them in order of fun-ness.

   JUST KIDDING, GUYS, I LOVE YOU ALL. 

it was weird how emotionally attached I got to my group, though; I had this crazy separation anxiety until I could find them again, if we were split up for anything. towards the end of day 2, I was part of a differently-membered campus tour group, and when bailey showed up, I was like, "HEY GIRL HOW ARE YOU I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH BECAUSE I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN BASICALLY TEN MINUTES!!!!" 

   it was maybe not that exuberant, but close. she looked a little terrified of the crazy clingy homeschooler. 

   yep, that's me, folks. feel the love.

everybody was really sweet to me, though, and I absolutely appreciated it. I went into the whole experience worried that I'd come across as the naive, sheltered homeschooler that… I… am… *ahem* that people think of homeschoolers as being, right, and also that a name like "deryn" will come across as weird and impossibly hard to remember. 

   well, it kind of cuts both ways, because while it may not be "olivia" or "ashley" or, heck, "jacqueline", once you get it, you've got it. "deryn" isn't your typical name. needless to say, people using my name is a very emotional experience for me; I might tear up and get all weepy. which I wanted to do several times when people were like, "hey deryn…" and I was like "OH, YOU KNOW MY NAME LET ME HUG YOU" -- more or less.

so that was a rough overview of my orientation experience. true, there were a few other things I learned. don't step on the bird (or you have to kiss it). freshman dorms are not 5-star hotels. our side is crunker than, crunker than your side. when you don't know how to nicely wrap something up, say "go cards" and sit down.  -- oh, right, and, small detail, I registered for classes. (not only did I spend more money at one whack than I ever have before in my life, it means)

THIS GIRL IS NOW A COLLEGE STUDENT BOOYAH!!

and

and

...go cards. *sits*