Great expectations

So Move-In Day has just concluded, and you’ve finally shooed your parents away long enough to have an actual conversation with your roommate. After talking to them without your parent’s embarrassing anecdotes, you both mull over some fun things to do. Luckily everything’s moved in, and you have no obligations until classes start Monday.

Welcome Week

The Associated Students of the University of Nevada, or ASUN, provides a wealth of activities during Welcome Week for newly arrived students. Welcome Week is a series of events designed by the organization that eases students into their new setting. Events planned this year are a free barbecue on the quad that Saturday and an ice cream social the first school day, Monday.

“The goal of many of the events we host are to allow students a chance to meet other students and to get involved with the university,” says ASUN director of programming Christina Gunn.

Flipside Productions is another association that holds activities and events on campus, with festivals held year-long.

All of these fun things will take your mind off the often confusing welcome event that takes place the next day in the Lawlor Events Center. Students who are unaccustomed to the campus (read, most) may have a hard time following groups around and trying to participate in the information sessions.

First week of school

Once the weekend’s chaos dies down and the first day of school begins, everything changes. After bumbling around trying to find the right building (which building is EJCH?) the old routine of the first day of high school kicks in. A syllabus is handed out and awkward introductions are made by the students in the class. Try to think of something witty to say as you introduce yourself.

After buying the hundreds of dollars of books your classes require, you might want to stop by the series of club fairs hosted on the quad. Unlike the clubs in high school you joined solely to have on your college resume, these clubs are often enjoyable. Some more interesting ones over the years have included the Del Taco Club and the Apple Poppers Club, a group that smashes apples with golf clubs on the campus lawn.

Week two

If you’re already starting to sense that one of your classes is going to be problematic by the second week, transfer to another class ASAP. The last day to add or drop a class and still get a refund is Sept. 1.

Fire alarms will constantly go off in the dorms for the first few weeks as those who have never cooked for themselves blunder their way through a meal, often catching their microwaves on fire in the process. Also make it a point to observe the laundry room. Students doing their own laundry for the first time can sometimes flood the room by using too much detergent or overloading the machines.

You’ve survived a month

Rush Week, the fraternity and sorority recruiting week will happen near the end of the month—right about the time you’re finally getting accustomed to your classes. Long lost are the carefree days when festivities were attended as regularly as class, but they still show up often enough. The first month is daunting for most freshmen, but by talking with upperclassmen about their experiences and hanging out with others in the same boat, the transition from high school life to college life is made much easier.