Friday, October 8, 2010

Hardcore Housing

I like to think of myself as being a member of the most hardcore floor at Dartmouth. Why? Because we live at the top of the absolute farthest dorm on campus. The River, my housing cluster, is widely agreed to be the worst dorm possible. We're far from everything - classes, food, the gym - and we don't even have nice, new buildings. However, as I quickly discovered, where you live on campus doesn't mean anything when you're surrounded by the incredible people that populate Dartmouth.

My first Saturday on campus, I woke up late to find half of my floormates still in their pajamas. Classes hadn't started, we had no commitments, and so Saturday was an absolutely free day. As we sat in our hall, our UGA, Michelle, walked by and told us she was making tea and that she welcomed us to join her in her room. In case you don't know, a UGA (undergraduate advisor) lives on every dorm floor at Dartmouth and is always available to help out with choosing classes and deciding on activities. More importantly, however, every UGA is an upperclassmen who wants to help scared freshman acclimatize to the Dartmouth lifestyle.

A couple of us took Michelle up on her offer and camped out on her floor, wearing pajamas and drinking tea. And so we sat, for five whole hours. We were shocked when we looked at the clock and realized we had wasted away the whole day doing... what exactly? Talking about whale tattoos and Homecoming? It's funny that even though I can't remember all that we discussed that day, the "tea party" still sticks out as one of my most valuable memories of Dartmouth so far.

I think it's because it symbolizes what Dartmouth is all about: making connections. I haven't even been on campus for a month, and I can already tell that some of the people I've met are going to become my lifelong friends.

So even though my dorm is closer to Vermont than to some parts of campus, I wouldn't change my experience for anything.

A Cappella

As an early decision admit, I've been stalking the a cappella scene at Dartmouth since December 2009. Before I even stepped foot on campus, I'd watched all the youtube videos and exhausted all the information available online. A cappella was the only thing I was sure I wanted to do on campus, and through all of orientation, I awaited the auditions with bated breath.

At Dartmouth, a cappella auditions are a big deal. And they take a long time. For the guys, they start the last day of orientation, the day before classes start. My first round began at 1 PM. We sang for a couple hours and then had a break until around 9, when each different group posted a callbacks list. After the second round ended at around 3 in the morning, the groups deliberated once again. Two floormates and I sat in my room together, vowing to make sure none of us fell asleep. The third round started at around 4:30 and didn't end until 6:30. It's hard to focus, let alone sing, at 5 in the morning, but I somehow finished the audition and sleepily headed home, picking up a giant cup of coffee on the way back.

For me, the lengthy process paid off. As I arrived home, members of my new group (the Dodecs!) appeared outside my dorm, surrounded me, and sang a traditional Dartmouth number before piling into a car to surprise the other new members. Their energy was infectious, and I found I wasn't even tired during my first college class that morning.

The next night, they broke into my dorm room at 2 in the morning and told me to wear socks on my hands and boxers on top of my pants. They blindfolded me and forced me to belt Lady Gaga to a random stranger we encountered outside my dorm (I still don't know who that was?). I met the other new '14s in the group, ate a great meal at a gas station (don't ask), and came back to my dorm feeling so welcomed.

Situations like that are the norm at Dartmouth. Every group on campus is SO excited to welcome new freshman to campus. We had enough late-night surprises to wake up the hall every night during the first week of classes. I had heard so much about the "Dartmouth community" before starting school here, but my experiences during orientation showed me it's not a myth. People here love being part of their communities on campus, and they can't wait to welcome new members.

Trips

When I arrived at Dartmouth, I was the second kid from my DOC trip section to arrive. And when I finished signing my name, the first had already gone to the bathroom, which left me standing by myself in front of Robinson Hall, surrounded by the florid colors of H-Croo.

In case you don't know, H-Croo is a group of about twenty sophomores, juniors, and seniors at Dartmouth in charge of welcoming the new freshman to campus and sending them out on their trips. And in order to make sure that the freshman don't feel awkward, each H-Croo dresses in flair, a style of dress unique to Dartmouth. In a nutshell, flair equals ridiculousness. Typical attire for a guy: pink spandex tights, a tutu, tie-dyed shirt, and flaming red hair. Any article of shockingly, obnoxiously bright clothing is perfect. 

I surveyed the scene. The members of H-Croo were jumping around, dancing to blasting pop music. Artists of choice: Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Katy Perry. I turned back to the registration desk and awkwardly asked "So what do I do now?"

The response: "Just chat, dance, do whatever! And all the people with crazy hair really want to be your friend."

By this time, more '14s (what my class will be called during our four years at Dartmouth) had shown up, and I had other confused freshman to talk to. I wasn't yet comfortable with dancing to Ke$ha, but neither were many of the other '14s. I talked, made friends, ate dinner, met the rest of my specific trip, and the next morning set off to spend a few days in the woods.

My trip was cabin-camping, and although it was little less intense than the others, (psycho socialization vs. psycho hiking) sitting in a cabin for days was one of the best ways to be forced to become great friends with a random group of people. And besides, when it's raining and cold, wouldn't you want a roof over your head?

I don't want to spoil more about what happens on trips, but let me say it was the absolute best introduction I could have had to college. It's the kind of thing you can't explain, but have to experience before you can understand the magic (and the dancing).