Back to Hogwarts...I mean, Tulane.

I've returned to blogging!

I had intended to start again two weeks ago, but weekends just kept coming and going and let's face it, I am a lazy girl at heart. Plus even though I had some down time when I first moved in, I have once again become incredibly busy. Welcome Week preparation, the beginning of classes, and Welcome Week itself kind of took over my life. And I had to face another end - the end of being an Orientation Team Leader.

My first two weeks back in the States were mostly spent prepping for Welcome Week with the rest of the OTLs. My specific role was social media/marketing, so I had a lot less to do than the OTLs who actually had an event coming up to plan. All of the disparities in amount of work to do meant that we worked on our own time rather than coming into the office, which meant that I had more free time than I knew what to do with.

I'm going to let you in on a (not-so-secret) secret. I am the worst person ever when it comes to free time. I'm used to running around to multiple places a day, having a ton of things to do, and a strict structure to my day that means I actually get my ish done. Free time means I spend way too much time on YouTube and end up with five days straight of being unproductive.

Which means that this huge list of things for the OTLs to do makes me happy.

Training for the OCs (Orientation Coordinators) began the Thursday before Welcome Week. The OCs are the ones who actually take the freshmen to every WW event, have one-on-one time with them during the week, and put on events for the group that they're in charge of. The first day of OC training was held at the Audubon Zoo, which meant that we all got to get out of the freezing Student Affairs office and spend time outside! (Though, thankfully, not the whole day outside. It was too dang hot for that.)

Introducing ourselves to the OCs

OTLs take great candid photos.

Before we knew it, training was over, it was 8AM Saturday morning, and the Class of 2017 and their parents were taking over campus.

Move-in day is best described as organized chaos, as anyone who has ever moved into college on that designated day knows. Students show up with U-Hauls for a dorm room that's half the size of their room at home, parents are trying to cope with their son or daughter leaving home and are overly emotional, no one knows their way around campus, parking is a nightmare...and the OTLs, OCs, and move-in volunteers all signed up for this mess willingly. I think we're all insane.

I was in charge of the OCs and move-in volunteers for Wall and Paterson along with another OTL, Pam. I was lucky enough to have great people - everyone was really hardworking and on top of whatever they were supposed to do, which helped every time five cars full of stuff all pulled up to the dorms at the same time. It kept threatening to rain - sometimes it would drizzle and torment us with the thought that it was about to storm and soak everything - but miracle of miracles, it actually held off.

After the five hour chaos of move-in, the OTLs had about an hour to go home, shower, and change for the President's Convocation. I got to carry one of the seven gonfalons down the aisle to begin convocation, which was pretty awesome...even though I tripped. (But I'm pretty sure only the people in the front row saw. Or I hope so.)

Gonfalon and the chance to wear a new dress!

Looking very academic and official in my robes.

After convocation there was a reception for all freshmen and their families with President Cowen, other administrators, and of course the fantastic OTLs that helped to plan their June orientation and Welcome Week. It was great seeing some of my freshmen again, even if I was having trouble remembering names. (Hey, I warned them. Names are not my strong point.)

OTLs with President Cowen!

Lovely lady OTLs

Welcome Week is officially over as of yesterday, and it's weird to think that I won't be spending the bulk of my time with the other OTLs anymore. I got sappy in my last post about the end of Exeter, so I'm going to avoid that here, but this was a great group of people to work with and I have loved my job.

In the midst of all of this Orientation stuff going on, my apartment was becoming a home, too. All three of my suite-mates have now moved in and we bought decoration and extra furniture for the apartment. It's now a lot less sterile and white, though there's still a bit of work to do. We've even cooked! (Multiple times, which I'm sure is a shock to my family who never sees me in the kitchen.)

Roommate date to a food truck festival!

The bookshelf that Emily and I bought and assembled ourselves. 

It's an actual real dinner that we made!

I really like my classes so far, though I can tell that they're all going to be a lot of work. Thankfully, I'll only be in class Tuesday through Thursday, which gives me a lot of time to work (I officially started freelance writing for Kicker!) and go to my internship. I foresee hundreds of pages being written this semester...especially since there's that novel I'm working on, too, which recently hit 300 pages! Thank god I like writing.

Some highlights from the past week in pictures, since this blog post is already pretty long:

Allyson with a 1-day-old alligator at Reily Rocks, the first WW event

On-campus concert Sunday - STRFKR

Flash mob at Monday's New Student Welcome!

Actual people at a Tulane home football game

We won, we won!

My strawberry/pineapple snoball from the year's first Fridays at the Quad

Friday's Riverboat Cruise - last Welcome Week event!

Westboro Baptist Church crashed the Southern Decadence celebrations. They were laughed at.

My aim is to make a new post every Sunday from now on. I feel like I'll definitely have enough to talk about for each week. I also changed the title and revamped the side bar a little bit - check it out!