The Dorm Life

I live in Cabaniss, a freshmen dorm on the MCV of VCU. It was not on my list of choices when I payed my housing deposit back in May, but since I signed up so late, I was put in this dorm because all of the other dorms were filled.  My assignment was two weeks late, so I was just excited to have finally gotten my housing assignment. 
This dorm is actually okay in my opinion.  It's quiet (on some days; the other days are a different story).  The big problem is that this dorm has communial bathrooms.  I do not like this at all.  Now at first, I thought that this would not be that bad, but after a few days, I understood what the complaints were about. 
The bathrooms are disgusting! Hair in the showers, sinks are dirty.  I can just imagine the bacteria in the showers and toilet stalls.  Eww. As you can probably already tell, I am a germophobe, so I take extra caution whenever I enter that horrid bathroom: I always take a bag with me to put my clothes in whenever I go to take a shower or get changed (I actually stole this idea from my roommate) instead of putting it on the seat in the shower stall and I wear my shower shoes while in the shower.  I even have went so far as to look up extra precautions so I can be even more prepared.

Enough about the bathroom.   Let's talk about the noise (remember I said the other days were a different story).  Well, last night, I was doing a little reading for my Mass Comm class, which was due today.  In just five minutes, the 7th floor of Cabaniss (the floor I stay on) went from being semi-quiet to loud! People were talking really loudly, cussing, yelling, it was ridiculous! I wanted to do this:

But, of course, I didn't.  I just waited for them to call down.  You would think I would be used to it with  aunt having six kids and all of them yelling and screaming through the house whenever I visited (which I did every week). At least there I could get them to quiet down, but here? No.  Not my job or place.
This is only the 2nd or 3rd week.  I don't even want to know what will happen in the upcoming months.

Broke College Student

The first day of classes started on Thursday.  I had three classes, all of which are close to each so I did not have to walk far (my legs were still sore from all of the walking I had did just a few days ago). My first class was Mass Communications 101, which consisited of maybe 100 people.  Not bad.  I actually think I am going to like that class (fingers crossed that I won't regret saying that in the upcoming months). My major is Journalism, so of course I would find this course interesting.  The professor gave us a standing assignment to bring in two facts from general and trade news to report to him.  That was the good part; the bad part was that he assigned us to read four long chapters in our textbooks and it was due next class, which is on Tuesday.  Oh, boy. Welcome to the college life.
My next class was psychology 101.  And I thought that my mass comm class was huge.  Psychology class had to have at least 200 or more students.  The lecture hall was almost as big as my high school audiotorium (sp).  I was a little bit hesitant about his class, but all of that demolished during the class period. The professor was very entertaining; a lot of students came in late and he had them go to the front of the class to explain why they were late.  Sounds kind of embarrassing, but it really wasn't; he had an outgoing and funny personality so he joked around with them.  One of the late students was junior and said he was late because he couldn't find the builing the class was located in. The professor jokingly told us were wrong for being to class early and knowing where the building was.
Now the last student he called out should be embarrassed.  The professor called him to the front of the class because he had fallen asleep.  When asked why, he said he was up partying.  You could tell that the poor boy did not want to tell why he was sleep and what he was doing the night before, but he really didn't have a choice.  The professor had him stand in front of the class, microphone in front of him along with 200+ students staring him dead in the face.  He was asked whether he was drinking or smoking or both.  He always paused before answering the embarrasing questions the professors asked.  Turns out, he was out partying and drinking the night before class.
The class seems interesting, subjectwise.  I was going to drop the class, but after a talk with my grandmother and aunt, I decided to stick with it.

All of my professors for my classes gave homework, some of which required books.  So, that meant I had to go out and buy them.  I could have bought them early, but decided to wait to get the official "ok" from the professors.  Today, I asked my friend if she could show me how to get to Virginia Book Company and Bookholders, which are two places on campus that sell cheap textbooks.  I got the books that I needed with the exception of one because they were out of stock.  The total amount for all of the books:$402.  Now, this may seem like a good price, but this blew me away. That's a lot for some textbooks! At that moment (for just a few seconds), I missed my high school days where I could just get the books for free.

Don't Rain on my Parade

So, some good and bad came out of today.  First, as everyone is America knows thanks to our fast working journalists, an earthquake hit Virginia and almost all of the East Coast. The epicenter was thirty miles north of Richmond, in a town called Mineral.  I was in the cafeteria with my friend getting something to drink when I felt the ground shake. Then, the cups next to the drink machine started shaking.  I paused, confused for a minute, and I thought that it was a big truck or a train going by.  The possibility that it might have been an earthquake did cross my mind, but I dismissed it.  Earthquakes did not happen in Virginia to my knowledge, except for once when I was younger, but it was small one. 
Everyone in the cafeteria became rowdy, trying to figure out what that shaking was.  A few minutes later, everyone's cell phones showed no service. My cell was going in and out, letting me send text messages at one minute, but not the next.
My friend and I sat down with our food near the TV, which was on the news.  Sure enough, a 5.9 earthquake had hit Virginia.  What suprised me though was that it was felt all the way in D.C., Ohio, Detroit, New York, Martha's Vineyard, Toronto, and other states I can't remember.  So the thought that I had earlier was right.  It was scary.  I texted my family members to see if they were ok and, thankfully, they were.  I did appreciate all of the texts that I recieved asking if I was ok.

On a lighter note: I got Wes Moore's autograph!! I was so close to not being able to get it, but I got it.  First, the convocation (on his book, where he was supposed to be the guest speaker) was canceled because of building inspections after the earthquake. However, the block party where he scheduled to sign our copies of his books was still on.  That I did not want to miss. I had planned to go with my friend, but she had to leave to go somewhere with her Dad, so I went by myself.  Yep, that means I rode the bus to and from the Monroe Park campus all by myself and I made it back in one piece :)
Anyway, I had waited in line (which only consisted of like 20 something people) for only like three minutes when Wes Moore's bodyguard (I think that's who he was) said that he had to cut the line short because Mr. Moore had somewhere to go and that he will be back sometime this year.
I was not having that. I did not ride the icky bus just to get turned away.  I went up there anyway.
Apparently, the other students had the same idea I did.  We all crowded around Mr.Moore, holding out our books and taking pictures.  He was nice enough to take every picture and signed all of our books and he even thanked us for supporting and reading his book.

I was able to take a few pictures of him.

The book signing was defiantly the highlight of my day.  I'll explain why his book was so interesting later :)

Toto, we're not in Dendron anymore...

So today officially kicked off the Welcome Week activities at VCU. This morning, my floor's RA taped a list of required events that we had to attend on my door. After breakfast, my roommate headed out for the Monroe Park campus, where the activities were being held. 

I live in a freshman dorm on the VCU medical campus (MCV), which is about 10-15 minutes away from the Monroe Park, which is the main campus and where I will be taking all of my classes. In order to get there, the students on the MCV campus have to take the VCU shuttle bus, also called the VCU connecter.
Now, I am a county girl, born and raised. The only bus I have ever ridden was the yellow bus that comes around to take me to and pick me up from school. I was nervous and excited at the same time. My roommate and I took tours of the buildings where we will report for class come Thursday.  It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulder- the last thing I wanted was to get lost or show up late on the first day of class.
Afterwards, my roommate and I both went our seperate ways.  I decided to go hang with one of my friend's at her friends dorm, all of whom were very nice.  It's kind of funny because one of her friends was my supposed to be my roommate (she was switched out of the dorm). I only stayed for like 45 minutes because I had to leave and catch the shuttle bus to the MCV campus to attend a required comedy club/informational session called "Love 'n' Liqour." 

I had to take the bus alone since I had no idea where my roommate was.  I was scared and nervous.  It wasn't like this morning where I had my roommate with me; I was alone this time.  So, I prayed that I would get to the right place and not get lost in this big and now scary place.  Thankfully, I did get to the right place at the right time. My prayers had been answered.

Overall, today was a good day.  The seminars were informational, helpful, and funny and I got to meet a lot of friendly people.  I am really looking forward to tomorrow because there will be a convocation held about the "The Other Wes Moore," a book assigned to us to read over the summer.  The guest speaker will be the author Wes Moore.  Afterwards will be a book signing.  If anyone knows me, I am a total bookworm, but I'll explain more of that and my experiences at the convocation tomorrow :)

Colleges, Colleges, Colleges

My first choice was not VCU; I wanted to attend Howard University, even had found a roommate.  However, the financial aid never came through (as in, it was never sent to me), so I decided to attend VCU instead. 



I was not at first happy about giving up on my first choice, but as the move in day for VCU approached, I decided to make the best at VCU.  It's actually a good school and became widely popular when their Men's Basketball team were in the Final Four earlier this year.  I am kind of excited for Basketball season :)

Move in day at VCU

Today, I became an official student at Virginia Commonwealth University.  I moved into my dorm around 10 this morning and, to my suprise, it wasn't that much hectice.  The earlier you arrive, the better.  Setting up my room did not take long either.  My mother was here to help me, so that made the process a lot quicker and easier. 

My roommate is very nice.  I was really worried that I was going to be paired with someone I did not get along with at all.  We actually have a lot in common, from TV shows to music.