One of the first things that come to my mind when I think of my experiences at RIT as a freshman is orientation. It may seem unsurprising and somewhat obvious, since it does happen to be a long drawn process most of us are forced to attend, with international students like myself getting special priviliges like PALs and a few more days of running around.

However, it is not the inevitable fatigue and not so memorable lectures which makes orientation worth being mentioned in the first sentence of this journal. What struck me as extra-ordinary is the lengths RIT goes to to ensure that the freshmen feel at home, the dedication of the upperclassmen to assist in orientation and their willingness to help individual freshmen. And of course, I did learn quite a few things I did not already know, which was probably the only redeeming quality of those lectures. (Yes, I noticed they were trying to make them entertaining, but a lecture is a lecture!)

Then there is the Computer Science House. Never before have I lived away from my family in a residence hall, but I feel quite comfortable here. Personally, I believe all the credit goes to CSH. I already have some great friends, and the upperclassmen are so helpful that I am afraid to ask them for help (Ironic, but the nice folks will stop whatever work they’re doing to help freshmen, even if it is important homework due the next day). We have two drink dispensing machines on floor, a special internet connection (faster than Resnet!), and a LOT of events. The “lot” is in caps because I have been here for about two weeks and have already attended a barbecue, gone to mark’s twice, played dodgeball, played capture the disc twice, gone to a nice lake for a welcome back event, been in about 7 meetings and generally had a lot of fun. My only problem is that I have to get signatures from everyone (which are not so easy to obtain) in order to become a permanent member…oh, well.

Luckily I don’t seem to have any boring classes/professors this quarter, and also enough spare time to do my laundry on a weekly basis. I do seem to have some trouble getting rid of meal plans and meals at Gracies, I should probably be eating more (I’ve had 9 meals this week and it’s almost Sunday). First Year Enrichment doesn’t quite seem to be necessary, but then that’s what I thought about orientation which turned out to be useful to some degree. One of the few things I dislike about the campus is the size. Walking from one point to another takes a lot of time and is a bit tiring, at the end of a typical day I am too fatigued to move (but I still play capture the disc).

Also, I experimented with the RIT online service MyCourses as I was instructed to, though I did use it before the instruction. The system is quite user-friendly, but apparently some professors do not upload material and/or information. Being able to look at your grades per assignment is a useful feature, as is the ability to look at course content (I had forgotten what I had to write in this journal, actually, so I went and took a look at the course syllabus there). Some of the other sections such as chat, surveys and quizzes don’t seem to have anything to offer as of now. The complete classlist is also available, including students’ RIT e-mail addresses, another feature which has some practical uses. I am glad that I wasn’t asked to experiment with the Student Info. System, I do not know my PIN (I do not remember setting one, so I can’t say I forgot). I’ll have to go to the George Eastman building when I have time to get that sorted out.