Orientation

Whether I'd like to believe it or not, the fall semester is upon us. Before the changing of the leaves always comes freshman orientation. As a student leader, part of my responsibilities include assisting with various orientation programs.

This year, Sandy Frank is 'orienting', so to speak, so it's been fun going through this experience together.

Orientation is a weird animal. It asks that, at least at our school, about 150 new students from across various interests and levels of maturity come together and make small talk. To facilitate this small talk, about 30 student leaders are recruited and trained at the end of the previous spring semester. That's where I come in. "Hi, where are you from? Oh, really? I don't know where that is at all...."

Of course, this week isn't totally pointless. I shudder to think of what this first year class would look like in October had they not gone through this process together. Now that I mention it, I don't believe I WILL think about it... too scary.

Pancakes and Free Online TV

Being poor doesn't always have to suck. Take me for example; I'm pretty effing poor, but I still find ways to enjoy my life within the meager funds that I have.

This morning, since yesterday I resolved that I wouldn't go grocery shopping this week since next week at leadership training we'll be fed every day, I looked at my shelf on the pantry. The others were pretty loaded up with colorful boxes and bags of snacks and ingredients, while on mine sat a lonely stack of ramen noodles and a box of instant pancake mix. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, said I as I poured some ShopRite Brand pancake powder into one of my roommate's mixing bowls. The pancakes are easy enough to make and delicious enough to eat, so within ten minutes, I had a short stack fit for a ... well... fit for an Osburn.

Since I forgot what I was supposed to do today, I decided to spend this, one of my last days until I get strapped back into those desks for another semester of hard learning (as my dad would say) laying around. Again, being poor, I don't have cable TV. (To those who may be shocked by this, I say to you only that if one has to buy the Top Ramen because one can't afford the Maruchan noodles, one has no business subscribing to cable TV.) Thankfully, there is always the internet - a one stop shop for everything free, including all of my favorite shows.

So what am I going to do today? Lay around, eat pancakes and watch countless free episodes of Futurama on my pc. Yes, my friend, even the pauper can live the life of a prince.

Life at Omega/Epsilon Chai Tea

Above is a picture of my room so far at our new house in Mantua. Mantua is a neighborhood in West Philadelphia near Drexel University.

Four of my friends and I have decided that it was time to move off of Moore's little campus, so we've started renting this 5 bedroom house about 2 miles away. Since Moore has no sororities, we've declared our place (which houses about 1/100th of Moore's total student body) Omega/Epsilon Chai Tea, Moore's Premier Pseurority.

Since I came back from Mongolia on July 18th, one of my roommates, Jessica, and I have been living here 'full time,' so to speak, with the other four popping in and out throughout the past few weeks. When we moved in, the house was... shall we say... a dump. There was a pretty thick layer of grime on about every surface of the house, which Jessica and I spent countless hours scrubbing. To complicate the picture, Jessica rescued a 3 month old kitten from abandonment. He is very loving, very cute, but has a bad case of worms and isn't quite litter trained. All of this would be fine, had we the money for vet bills. His name is Toby, and we're finding it difficult to keep up with his numerous... uh... accidents.

I repainted my bedroom and started to decorate. We have a land line phone and a wireless network all to ourselves. The place is starting to feel like home in a way no place has for me in a while. Though, it's been nice to have the whole place to ourselves, Jessica and I are very excited for when the others move in. Sarah and Emily move in tomorrow and Sandy Frank, who's been in the process of moving for the past few weeks, will be officially in on the 16th. It will be a full house, no doubt about that.

The neighborhood is quirky, but safe - which is hard to explain to parents, but luckily, my parents approve of the place, as does Jessica's mom. Sarah and Emily's parents are another story, but sometimes you just can't win those battles.