disOriented

Moving to Iowa with little more than a bunch of clothes, my cat, my girlfriend, and my school books meant buying pretty much everything I needed when I got there. We went to Wal-Mart and Target probably ten times in the day and half before orientation started. My only regret would be not making it to the mattress store before closing the first day in Ames; one night sleeping on the floor is one too many.

Orientation was an...interesting blend of activities spread out over three days, a mix of talks and team-building games. There were a ton of lectures on school procedure and getting acclimated to vet school, with a huge emphasis on professionalism and building our confidence that we can make it through the program (which was very encouraging).

The rest of the time, we were broken into groups of 10-12 students to complete generic ice-breaker games: tossing a tennis ball to remember names, linking arms to create and then escape from a human knot, getting every group member to fit on a small wooden platform and so on. It was a pretty silly, but it did break down the awkwardness of getting thrown into this alien situation without knowing anyone. A necessary evil I guess.

One thing I could really have done without? The two hour+ presentation on emotional personalities which can be summed up in one sentence: Some of us are introverts and some are extroverts, we are all different.

That's deep.