It was what I expected. Possibly worse. Possibly better. Either way, I'm content.
Almost everyone was at orientation by themselves. Making friends was really easy if I took a small bit of initiative to say hello and ask someone where they were from. It made me wonder if making friends could be this painless in an environment where everybody knew each other already. Probably not. We were all a little vulnerable by ourselves, and quick to cling to company. But who knows.
I befriended a nice handful of people. We spent Saturday night at the student center. We sat down at a table to play Cranium, but just ended up talking for an hour or two. We tossed around shallow topics and discussed the possibility of walking into town. After we were ushered back to the cramped dorm rooms where we were staying, my roommate and I were invited to reunite with the two boys and girl we had spent the majority of the night talking to. We sat on creaky beds and talked about sex and getting drunk and dumb jokes until two in the morning. I knew I was capable of much more intelligent conversation, but it was fun. If they were in my high school, I knew we would never be on conversational terms. But they all seemed to think I was a real hoot.
It was an adventure.
I also want to find someone who's more like myself: a lazy intellectual who loves people and art and talking about things that aren't shallow.
I'll keep you updated.
Also, I got an awesome henna tattoo. I spy a new hobby in the near future.
