First Impressions

It has been a while since I have posted because I have been swamped with stuff to do here in California.  We have been shopping every day to try and gather all of the stuff that I need for my move into the dorm - and I still do not have everything I need.

When we landed on Monday the 23rd, the first thing we did was travel to Harvey Mudd so that I could try and get in and see my dorm.  I was let in to look around and it looked wonderful!  It is much larger than I expected considering all the horror stories about tiny rooms and little space.  It is painted in some bright red and yellow colors which is pretty fun.  Katie was doing the Summer Institute, so she had already moved in and settled down.

The campus itself seems beautiful, though it is considered one of the ugliest college campuses.  Yet, it has large patches of green grass between the buildings, and a bunch of beautiful trees.  My dorm, Atwood, has a balcony looking out onto a stone square and a lovely tree.

Monday, August 23rd 2010 - A view of my dorm, Atwood.

Here is the outside of my dorm, and in this pictures you can see my balcony (which is the only one visible on the third floor).

The remainder of the 23rd was spent shopping around Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and similar general stores.  On the 24th, we went to Ikea and Home Depot to do some more shopping - I got a very cute looking storage unit to set up in the dorm.  Today, we went to a patio furniture store to get some stuff for the balcony - which now seems to large to fit having seen it again - and some plants from Home Depot.

We then decided to do about an hour of shopping at the mall.  Nick bought me a cute stuffy to bring with me to college since I choose to leave Pup at home where he would be safe.  It was very sweet and I love my new puppy.

We had a welcome dinner scheduled at the college, so before that started, I talked to Katie and ended up dropping off a load of my stuff today, so I would not have to worry about as much tomorrow.  This way, I was able to get some things situated early, which will make tomorrow much easier.

The dinner was fun; I met a lot of the incoming freshman class and a couple of the sponsors who are helping with the Orientation activities.  While the dinner itself was not the best, I had a nice time talking with people and hearing from a member of the faculty.  It was a short dinner, but a nice introduction to the campus.

On the way out, we saw these sign posts that had the names of all of the incoming class (about 200 students, over 50% of whom are female) and their home towns.  It was very cute and helped to make the campus feel welcoming and personal.

My name on the sign post.

The time has finally come to move into the dorm - early tomorrow morning I will become officially moved in.  The orientation that follows is packed with activities, so I will do my best to blog but it may be a little while before I am settled enough to do so.  Until then...