Class of 2016: Unofficial Guide to Orientation
What You Should Do:
You’ve probably read about this already, but there are a variety of FOOT (First-Year Outdoor Orientation Trips) trips you can go on at Amherst. FOOT trips are a great way to spend some time getting to know a small group of fellow freshmen. I had a lot of fun on my FOOT trip, and continued to hang out with many of those people when we returned to campus. Some FOOT trips are day trips, some are for just one night, and others are for three nights. I highly recommend doing a one-night trip. If you really love canoeing, hiki
ng or rock climbing, definitely consider doing a three-day trip, but in being gone for three days you do miss a significant amount of orientation time on campus. A one-night trip is great because you get to know the people on your trip better than you would on a day trip, but you still have plenty of time on campus.
Join a random Frisbee game. Everybody is friendly during orientation because everybody is looking to meet new people. So ask if you can toss the disk with those people on the quad you’ve never talked to before. Sit anywhere you want in Val. Eat every single meal with a different group of people. Orientation is one of those times in life when you can go up and introduce yourself to anyone and it’s not remotely bizarre or awkward.
Explore town. When I was a freshman, I stumbled into Bart’s Homemade Café with a few of my floormates, and can I just say that my stomach is thanking me for discovering it so quickly. There are many delicious cafes and quirky stores in the town of Amherst just waiting to be discovered, so while it might be tempting (and comforting) to stay on campus, wander around! You never know what you might find!
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What You Should Know:
Don’t be a hot mess. You’ve heard that advice before, and that’s because it’s good advice. Many first year collegiettes™ are tempted to party like crazy during orientation. Don’t get me wrong; orientation is a great time to party. You just don’t want to be that kid who lost her ID and keys the first week and couldn’t remember which dorm was Sterns and which was James.
Don’t worry if you feel disoriented and a bit lonely during orientation. It’s weird leaving high school, where you have your world and your comfortable niche carved out for you, and being thrust into a new school to start all over again. It’s going to take more than a week to find a best friend at Amherst, and to remember which building is the one with the dinosaur museum. But I promise that everyone else is feeling just as disoriented as you are, even if they’re doing a great job hiding it.
It’s OK to Be Yourself. In your first few weeks at Amherst, you will find yourself surrounded by tons of other collegiettes looking to have a great time and taste a little bit of that college life that we all dreamed of while watching Greek. If you want to spend your time re-creating your favorite moments from all those scandalous shows, go right ahead! For most of you, college is your first taste of independence–eat it up! But remember, just because everyone else is doing something, it doesn’t mean you have to as well. If you arrive at Amherst and decide kegstands aren’t for you, have no shame! The most important thing is that you feel comfortable spreading your wings, in whatever way you choose. And I can guarantee you, that if you stay true to yourself (or to whichever self that comes out after a round of Kings), you’ll find friendships that will last you all four years.