Editorial

If you’ve ever been through job training, Orientation is similar to that experience. In a short amount of time, you’re fed information, which you apply at a later date. It’s rushed, it’s awkward and sometimes confusing. And then when the job starts, everything you learned goes out the window. But with some time, it all comes back to you.

Orientation is the same. From the moment you set foot on campus for Orientation, you are bombarded with information—and it won’t stop until you drive off campus at the end of your two day stay. All of this information you are learning will be forgotten but when you return in the Fall, most of what the OL’s told you will come back.

Although Orientation may feel like an information overload, there are some fun as well as awkward parts too. Orientation leader presentations on the first night won’t be the most comfortable. Filing into the rows of seats with your group to sit down is followed by strained conversation about the weather and where you went to high school. That is normal. It may even lead you to meet one of your best friends for the next four years. The majority of us can vouch for that.

Don’t forget you can laugh at (while cheering on) your Orientation leader! It will be greatly appreciated.

Planned fun later on the first night is probably as awkward as you think it will be. But don’t let the “Too Cool Tommy’s” and “Sassy Sally’s” ruin your fun. Enjoy yourself at planned fun. Don’t be worried about holding back from enjoying yourself and laugh with some of your new friends whether in your Orientation group or another one.

In between informational sessions, your Orientation leader will lead you all in some odd ice breakers. If we do say so ourselves, “Birdie on a Perch” is a pretty good one. And be careful if you play “Partner Tag,” it can get pretty dangerous.

Nothing will top your first time in the residence hall. The communal bathroom shower stalls and rows of sinks will be quite different from the comfort of your own home but soon you will come to appreciate them as a place to run into friends from your hallway during the year.

When you move in come fall, help your Orientation leader carry your huge suitcase up the four floors of Regis stairs. Get lost on your first night out exploring the Townhouses and make sure to spend time roaming the halls of your residence hall-we wish we could go back and do it again.

So if you have forgotten already what your Orientation leader has told you to remember about Fairfield, don’t worry, you’ll hear it all again in First Year Experience (FYE). And sometimes it’s worth forgetting some of what they told you – making your own mistakes while finding your way can be just as good of a learning experience, and sometimes even more fun.