Cal Student Orientation

CalSO. this is a long overdue post.

So, i got there on thursday at bout 330. check in was at 3 and there were already a couple of ppl who had checked in, but i never saw them.

4 oclock n i wanted to go check out the gym and i still hadnt met anyone yet, so i went into the lift and left a note (we all were staying in the same dorm block and all had to use the lift) tellin ppl that if they wanted to go for dinner with me to call me, n i left my phone number.

then i went to check out the gym, pretty cool, i cycled for 15 mins then did a bit of weights.

anyway the gym was the size of a school hall, with diff sections, one part for cardio, one for weights, one for dance classes. anyway ill post more some other time.

after doin weights for a while i decided to check out the turf field. :) there were ppl playing soccer there n they let me join in. it was a group of middle eastern guys bullying a group of white guys, the white guys let me play on their team while the other team snickered (prob at the thought of how easy it was to make us look bad) anyway, it was still a friendly game with one team trying a lot harder than the more talented group. but its soccer, it was fun, i had a good time.

while playing i got a call from someone who had seen my note. he had already had dinner tho, so i told him id call him later (i was still playing)

after playing i left n got a text from another guy, met up with him n went for dinner.

about 9pm, ppl started mass gathering, most ppl seemed to have checked in bout 8pm.

then sudenly the girls apeared in a big group n said they were goin to go karaokeing.

so the whole group went, a few stayed behind and went for frozen yogurt. i went with them, then went karaokeing (1st time). it was pretty amusing watching everyone else who was very much into singing.

then later at bout 11pm most ppl went to bed, i stayed outside tossing an american football with 3 other guys.

sometime later we went to bed.

next morning got up b4 8 and bathed in the coed bathrooms (not during calso, but during the normal school yr)

after breakfast met out counselors (other students who had gone thru training specifically for this)

had a talk, one of the professors welcomed us (parents who came were in the same hall at this time), told us how special we are n stuf like that.

then she took out a human brain!!! (yeah thats the pic above, i dont know how to control where the pic ends up), then she told us a bunch of cool stuff n she was the scientist that studied Einsteins brain, cool huh?

pretty cool way to start CalSO dont u think?

then there was more talks bout our first semester n how we should start slow and wat we should do, who we should meet up with if we need help and some other things (unfortunately i dont remamber as much now, should have done this post 2 weeks ago.)

then we broke into our groups (bout 10 ppl) n played icebreaking games. intro ourselves kinda games, talked abit with our counselors who was a freshman last yr (only one yr ahead of us)

then we went for lunch.

after lunch we had a few diff talks we could choose to attend, i went for the work study one called hire me please, where it was super crowded (guess eveyone needs money in this sad economy) ppl had to sit on the floor.

then i went for a gettin involved at cal talk where the lecturer asked how many ppl were involved in about 2 or 3 diff activities in school and practically everyone rasised their hand. then he told us that were at Cal now and have to focus on one thing or so, and that we cant spread ourselves around anymore, but that there were 990 clubs at Cal so if we wanted to we could join one. We can also start a club if we want to.

then we had a health and safety talk, health was boring except the part where i found out i was covered for at least 80% for EVERYTHING, just need to double check that, but sounds like a pretty good deal.

the safety talk was by a cop and he was pretty entertaining, warned us bout the dangers at berkeley. he was actually the most entertainin, mayb ill do a separate post on him.

after dinner, we listened to some students talk bout their first yr experience, then they did this cool program called STAND IF.

later at night there were games, we played mafia among other games, sadly most ppl seemed to not really know how to play. and the odds were against us 3 mafia, 1 traitor (there were about 15 ppl playing) well one of the sophomores playing got us in the end, he was the detective (i should have killed him), anyway it was fun, gave me a happy glimpse of what the next four yrs would be like.

Later that night most students were either sleeping or on laptops trying to figure out wat subjects to sign up for.

Next morning we took turns getin our cal id and taking a campus tour as well as registerin for classes. (registration is all online n done in 2 phases, each phase u can only sign up for 10 units, so that everyone has a chanve to get a class they need.)

then we were taken to a slope they called 4.0 n said if u roll down ull get a 4.0, so yes ppl started rolling down. :) (those r the other 2 pics)

after that we were pretty much done and went to the hall where we were wished all the best and just as we were ending the Cal Band rushed in playing music.

then they played a song that has a dance to it, i think its from some movie, but im not too sure, anyway, its called time warp everyone who knows the dance does it aparantly, and EVERYONE is suposed to learn the dance. i think they all do it together at football games, its like a cheer i think, anyway, i got a video of it.