The First Week!

The first week at school included a lot of new roomie bonding (yay Sarah!) and unpacking/furnishing the new place. Rach and Dad and Lynda were enormously helpful the first few days, and we had a great time together exploring Durham and Duke. We unpacked, we visited the Duke Chapel, Cameron, the business school building, and Duke Gardens...despite the fact that it felt like it was about 150 degrees because it was so hot and humid that weekend! My dad built me a bike rack so Cannie (mtn bike) and Speedy (road bike) can stand in the corner of my room - there was no chance that I would be able to make something like this, but he had it whipped up in 20 minutes! 

 
Sarah and I decided to motivate ourselves to get the place furnished and ready, so we planned a housewarming party on Tuesday night 7/27 (we got into town on Thursday 7/22). Here are some photos of my apartment, kitchen and living room, before and during the party! We have concrete floors...I wasn't sure how I would feel about that, but they're kind of fun...and really tough to stain/hurt!

After the housewarming, Sarah headed out of town and I spent the rest of the week unpacking my room (the living room was ready for the party, but my room was still a mess of boxes at that point!) and doing pre-assignments for our pre-term classes. Orientation started at 8am on Sunday 8/1, and it was a whirlwind three days! We had a variety of speakers throughout the day - about programs, classes, career stuff, basically just an introduction to all aspects of the school. We were also grouped into our sections (the class of 450 is split into 6 sections of about 75 people) that we theoretically take core classes with and get to know a little better. I'm section 2 (GO DEUCE - there's a lot of section pride that happens here!!) and it's a great group! 

 

Roomie pic at the housewarming

We had parties each night that kept us out until 2am, and then sessions each day at 9am, so sleeping was minimal for those three days. 

The first night was the Around the World party, which basically meant that we were supposed to dress up like whatever place or thing we identify with...so some people wore sports jerseys for their home teams, some wore traditional clothes for where they're from. My class is 40% international, so there were definitely some cool outfits. I took inspiration from California Gurls (song) and went bikini on top...under a tank top, of course. It was a lot of fun! The next night was the 80's party...that one was a lot of fun. I think blinding is a fairly accurate description of my outfit.

80's party...clearly.

Around the World party...bikini on top!

We would, without fail, walk in to the  auditorium in the morning to the Taio Cruz song "Dynamite" blasting...at the time we kept wondering why they had that song on repeat, but at the end they told us that it's our "class song." It's a lot of fun, anytime we're out and that song comes on, everyone flips out and there is a mad dash for the dance floor. 

That's me in the business suit three-legged race...

Orientation ended with Section Olympics - we competed in things like the business suit 3 legged race, dizzy bat, flip cup (with water), and tug-of-war. It was so much fun! Dizzy bat was possibly one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. They had to spin something like 10 times on this bat, then run back and forth across the field. Now, 10 is a lot of times...every person, without fail, would put down the bat, stare straight ahead, and make a beeline to the left into the crowd. We were all gasping for air from laughing by the end of it! Here are a few pics of us there - the red t-shirts are section 2 (go deuce!!). 

We went right into pre-term from there on Wednesday, which meant two classes (Leadership and Ethics in Organizations and Global Institutions) plus an improv class which was actually a lot of fun! I wasn't sure what to expect from that, I had this vision of having to stand up and come up with a routine (which was a terrifying thought) but it turned out to be a lot of fun group exercises that helped us get to know each other and get comfortable with each other (think trust falls).

 

The weekend included another housewarming party and brunch at a yummy place called Watts Grocery. It was a great first week, so busy and lacking in sleep, but a great time. Those first weeks of meeting tons of people and making friends were so much fun!