College

It begins.

Being the pessimist that I am, I'll begin with some of things that I was promised by the University of Michigan that I never actually received:

1. Reasonably small classes.  I knew they would be big, since this is a huge University, but I was told that in spite of this the classes weren't obnoxiously large.  For some perspective, my Engineering 101 course contains anywhere from 150-200 people and my organic chemistry class has well over 300, and its in the largest lecture hall on campus.  The only class where size control is evident is Calculus II, where there are about 35 students.  Good job.
2. Communal bathrooms - that is, communal bathrooms with soap.
3. Fast, reliable bus service - my previous experiences at the University of Michigan were at Campus Day when I was still on the fence about attending here vs. the Colorado School of Mines and Summer Orientation.  In both cases, (even when campus day occurred during the spring term) the free bus system - in particular the route between the central campus (where most everything important is) and north campus (where I live) - took about five minutes with absolutely no wait time between buses.  I learned the hard way that this is only the case during the middle of the day on weekdays when classes are in session.  And by "the hard way" I mean that I waited for two hours to catch a bus from central to north on my very first day on campus.  Granted, that was my own fault.*

However, none of these are very large complaints.  I did manage to find one soap dispenser in our hall's bathroom - it's just not in a very sensible location.  The expectations I had for college life were generally accurate, since I have spent so much time in the past year worrying about what my experience will be like.  On the other hand, there are a few points on which my expectations for the school year were either surpassed or not met.  Chances are it is far too early to comment on either but I'll give it a go.

Expectations met:

• Food.  It's not very good, but not intolerable.  And Bursley's dining hall is pretty cool.  And sitting in this dining hall also made me appreciate morning classes a lot more for reasons that must not be shared as publicly as on a blog.  Contact me privately if you want to hear this tale.
• My dorm room.  I'm pretty sure it's actually smaller than most on campus even though I was told it was one of the larger dorms.  Having one of the only dorms with wi-fi in my room, though, is a huge plus.  I'll refrain from judging my roommate here, but let's just say that I'm talking about him in the right section.  He seems like a cool guy but I don't think we're going to be bffs.
• Partying.  Let's face it, I've never thought that partying would be that fun.  Now that I've officially taken the plunge and "lived it up" at a few frats, I see that I was right.  Throw in a guy who keeps trying to pick a fight with me and the fact that men sometimes very publicly take advantage of drunk women at these things, and you've got a nervous freshman too uncomfortable for alcohol to fix.  Cue trek back up North.

Expectations exceeded:

• Classes.  I've been told over and over again that college courses (in particular Calc II and Organic) are horribly difficult.  However, organic chemistry thus far is so damn easy that I'm struggling to stay awake.  Right now we are reviewing general chemistry.  Keep in mind that I took three years of high school chemistry, including a semester of high school organic chemistry.  Unfortunately, though, I'm aware the pace will pick up greatly.  Also, Calculus is a lot easier than I expected - more than a year after having last looked at anything that even remotely related to calculus, I have a better understanding of the lectures thus far than a fair amount of my classmates.  Also also, Engineering 101 deals a lot with C++ which I have experience with.  However, I never learned it well enough for this experience to be as beneficial as my other two courses.
• Football.  Lately all I've heard about Michigan football is that we haven't been that good.  Also, my seats are in the 92nd row of the student section.  Nonetheless, I can see the action on the field perfectly well from there, and our latest victory over U Conn proves to me that we have got some game.  Let's see how we stack up against Notre Dame tomorrow...  My only complaint is that the marching band is too far away to judge accurately. (The sights/sound do not line up at all due to the proximity problem, which makes judging the precision of their music/marching a lot more difficult.)

Expectations not met:

• Transportation.  See earlier rant.
• Social life.  I don't want to talk about it, really, but for this past week I've spoken about 1/3 of what I normally would.  I'm really, really fucking lonely.  And it's making me painstakingly aware of the fact that I probably have a mood or personality disorder.  And it's making me even more afraid that it's getting worse, whatever it is. 

Soon the end of this post will become a dumping ground for stories as I come of age.  Or something.