Ok. Self-cut-downs out of the way, I have a lot to talk about. Though the majority of this summer has been as embarrassingly lame as the past seventeen or so summers of my life, the past week has been pretty damn impressive.
First things first: last Monday-Wednesday was my freshman orientation for UT. Whaaat?! I know. It was pretty exciting. And by exciting, I mean stressful.
Really though. Here’s a play-by-play:
- Sunday: left Albany about an hour and a half after originally planned. Then spent the next four hours or so in my aunt’s Chrysler with her and my mother, chilling from my post in the backseat, iPod headphones firmly in place. Got to ATX about eight or something and stayed at my lovely cousins’ apartment, which is cute despite its unfortunate location behind both a Church’s and a KFC (the entire air from about 10 AM-11PM smells strongly of fried chicken).
- Monday: went to Jester East (aka: hell in dorm-form) to check-in. Met temporary roommate - an Austinian (Austinite?) named Cassie. Chilled until I had to go to a Gateway Scholars* meeting. Remainder of day was circled around already-planned-for-me, orientation-wide seminars/play things which were all funny, but really alike. Except Bevo: An Unusual Mystery with the Usual Suspects. I really like that one.
- Tuesday: had the earliest possible Academic Advising meeting - seriously. Learned about what classes I could and couldn’t take, which was more frustrating than it should have been.** Then, due to my Gateway Scholars affiliation, I got to go directly to priority registration, where a nice lady did everything for me and I got my classes all set. After this, I took a really long nap instead of going to any of the seminars I had originally planned on going to. Later, was again forced to go to mandatory seminar/play things, but this night they were even better than the night before.
- Wednesday: I basically didn’t have to do anything because my schedule was already done. I just went and got my ID and then peaced out of UT, and later, ATX.
Next up is the Harry Potter Finale Extravaganza. Also known as the time I went to see the midnight premiere of the final HP movie with Lydia and Larissa.
Thursday morning, the three of us headed out for Denton, where Lydia lives. We stopped occasionally for things like “necessary” ice cream from McDonald’s and actually necessary lunch from a place called Fuzzy’s. Then we dumped all of our stuff off at Lydia’s apartment (which is even more cute than Justin & Julie’s - the aforementioned cousins - for reasons like having a Say Anything… poster in the living room and Audrey Hepburn pictures around the bathroom mirror). Then we headed out for the outdoor mall in Southlake, where our theater was located.
For several hours, we milled around said mall because we didn’t want to actually camp out at the theater (and by “we,” I mean Lydia and Larissa, because I would have been perfectly fine being the first one there). Eventually though, I convinced them it was high time we headed that direction and, after a brief trip to Kroger to stock up on necessities (such as Hot Tamales and Sour Patch Kids), that is what we did.
There were already like, a thousand people in the theatre and it was only six o’clock. So, after being handed our totally legit 3D glasses (for Part II, which were shaped like Harry’s, in case you didn’t know), we settled in the best seats available to chill for the remaining three hours until Part One of our “double dose of Potter” began.***
I got through Deathly Hallows: Part One relatively shamelessly, due to the fact that I had seen it many times before - although I will admit that I still almost cried when Dobby died because there will never be a time when that isn’t sad. About forty minutes separated the two parts and I tried to distract myself from the impending doom of dying childhood by standing in a ridiculous line at the restroom and inhaling quite a bit more Hot Tamales than I had up until that point. But alas, midnight was fast approaching.
I started freaking out at the previews - which had a lot to do with the fact that two of the previews included were for The Dark Knight Rises and the Glee 3D concert movie, both of which I’m really stoked for. I was not ok again from this point forward.
From the moment the WB logo appeared until the first words of the credits, I was in a state of hysteria. My heart raced. My mind reeled. My eyes were as big as Luna Lovegood’s. I clapped and whooped with the rest when moments meant for clapping and whooping occurred. The tears began at “Are you ok, Freddie?” and did not properly relent until I was out of the theatre. Several times throughout the night, I caught one of the Davis sisters looking over to make sure I was alright.
But I survived. And it was beautiful. And I couldn’t have asked for more.
Moving on before I start crying again, I came back from the Metroplex with the sisters on Friday and headed over to my dad’s. Saturday was a mess of a five-year-old-roller-skating party****, a second showing of HPDH2 (this time with my dad and sister, in 2D, and with much less waterworks), and really good news: I finally have a room assignment*****.
Alright then, there you have it. My most glorious week of summer in a nutshell. I bid you goodnight and
*Gateway Scholars is this weird group that I got put in for “highly motivated students” that helps you transition from high school to college and offers all this academic help and such. I don’t really like anything about it except that it got me priority registration, but I’m stuck with it for at least this semester because I signed a contract.
**The reason for the frustration goes back to Gateway Scholars. They require me to take this weird signature course called “Race in the Age of Obama,” which nothing can conflict with. So, I had to pick all of my classes based on what didn’t conflict with that one - which I don’t even particularly want to take - and it was just really annoying.
***First of all, when it comes to when you should start lining up, you should always listen to me. I’m just saying. Also, “the best seats available” ended up being in about the fourth row because people are annoying and like to save seats. However, this location didn’t end up being as bad as I thought it would be because being so close made 2D look 3D and 3D look even more awesome than usual. So, all was well.
****I’m pretty good at roller-skating, which is really hard to believe considering how clumsy I am. I think I should just strap wheels under my feet at all times, because I fall down less that way.
*****I’m living in Littlefield, an all-girls dorm in the honors quad that is the smallest and oldest (built in 1927) dorm on campus. I’m actually really excited about it because it’s a beautiful building and it’s in a really good location. Also, my roommate’s name is Meagan and she seems really cool, which is a relief because I was pretty certain I was going to end up with either a Maryanne Bryant type or a serial killer.
That was the most beautiful blog post I've ever read in my life.
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
ReplyDeleteI try.