First Week

Well, I'm finally done with the first week. It's been busy and hectic, but a load of fun. First and foremost, I finalized my schedule. It took a couple of talks with my adviser, emails to heads of the physics and chemistry department, and a meeting with one of the physics professors, but I finally decided to drop calculus, and instead take intro to psychology. That means my schedule will be writing 1, general chemistry, physics and intro to psychology. I'm really liking this schedule. A couple of reasons: First of all, my earliest class is 10 am, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Also, my only classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays are either lab sections or discussion sections. Labs meet every other week, so most Tuesdays and Thursdays I won't have much to do. Finally, the physics class I'm taking is geared towards possible physics majors, so people who actually like physics, as opposed to those just taking it as a pre-med requirement or something. This means the class is much more logic and conceptual based, and prompts more discussion, which I think I'm really going to enjoy.
After all the stress of changing around my schedule, I'm finally getting into the groove. I'm loving my professors, too. My intro to psych teacher is a really interesting lecturer, and I can tell I'm really going to like that class. My chem professor is a crazy guy, but clearly very smart. Any time somebody asks a question, he makes them introduce themselves, and any time he draws a graph or pantomimes a motion, he insists the whole lecture hall (300ish people I believe) use sound effects. My writing 1 professor is a English grad student, but she seems to be a decent professor (although we haven't had much interaction). My physics professor is one of those guys who clearly loves his job, and can explain very complicated things well enough to be understood by, say, a freshman in a 100 level physics class.
But besides classes, I've been keeping very busy. Thursday, for example, I didn't have any classes (because discussion sections/labs haven't started yet), so I did all the homework/laundry/miscellaneous housekeeping that needed to be done. Then at 5:30, I went for a run with running club, got back in time to take a shower and eat, then rush off to juggling club briefly before going to the exec staff meeting for the radio. Exec staff is basically the leaders of the radio program, who make sure all the little things get done. It was interesting to sit in on the meeting and hear all about the inner workings of the radio, and the pre-orientation kids even got introduced and it was all very cool.
Other than official meetings and classes, our floor has been doing a huge amount of bonding. Pretty much every other freshmen floor is jealous of Ruby 1 (my floor), and how close everybody is. Whenever people are in their room, the doors are propped open, and everybody is welcome to wander in and hang out. This Friday, we were just hanging out, and then somebody mentioned how classy Ruby 1 was. That then prompted us all to dress up (ranging from me in shorts, a polo and a tie, to a guy in a suit and bowtie), and then have a dance party in one of the triples. I have some pictures on my FaceBook, and I'll try to remember to email out some pictures for those of you who are not on there.
I think that's about all for now. Today our plan is to head over to the zoo as a floor, so that'll be good fun! Love and miss you all!

-Brendan