Orientation (So Far)

These past three days have been something of a blur, but I will try to give a coherent account of what's happened along with some of my impressions.

Day 1 started with us meeting in the Hall of Mirrors to pick up our name tags. Our name tags also had our group assignments, which we needed to know for the team-building exercises that we would have later in the day with Outward Bound of NYC. After meeting in the Hall of Mirrors, we went to hear the Dean speak. His speech included examples of accomplished alumni. He spoke about our class. And he encouraged us to think about our values as we moved through our professional lives. He officially welcomed us to SOM, then we all went to meet with the facilitators from Outward Bound. The rest of my day was spent with a group of 12 other people from my cohort. We worked together to solve problems like: building a bridge to cross an imaginary river using 6 boards of varying lengths, fitting everyone on a see-saw that had only one access point, and building a rocket ship that we then had to present to other groups from the same cohort. It was fun and even challenging at times. That night, almost everyone went to a local bar. I ended up coming home at around 1 a.m.

Day 2 began with a laptop configuration session. It took longer than the alloted two hours. Fortunately, I had time to grab lunch before my first day of Math Camp.

Math Camp has been frustrating for me insofar as there are a lot of people in the class who do not need it. Clearly, many of classmates have a firm grasp of Calculus. I haven't taken Calculus in years, so I feel like an idiot every time I see one of the people who don't need Math Camp go up to the board and complete a problem without any difficulty. Truth be told, that's my problem. I find working on math problems in a group setting a little intimidating. I need to get over this . . . and fast.

That night, many of us (although a much smaller number of people than the night before) went to a graduate student bar on campus. Again, I got home at 1 a.m.

Day 3 (Today!) was a little more difficult. The energy required to make it through the first two days resulted in my oversleeping this morning. I missed a mandatory class and will now have to try to go to the Friday session. I did manage to make it to my class on professional communication. Very interesting stuff. Common mistakes made in professional writing and speech. We even had to sing a little bit - an attempt to help us understand the musicality of the English language. Particularly relevant to those of us who speak in monotone.

My impressions so far: Great school, amazing students. The team building exercises presented us with an excellent opportunity to see some of our classmates' strengths and weaknesses. We also got to see how each of us behaved in a group setting. I was impressed overall by our ability to work together. There was one person on my team, however, who made it a point to (unnecessarily) correct other people in the group. I don't think I would want to have him in any study group of which I am a member.

Overall, I'm in a class full of very talented people from an incredible number of backgrounds. I have yet to meet anyone with a profile like mine; and, listening to my classmates, it's become evident to me that no one in my class is very much like any one else in terms of his/her professional experience. In broad strokes, maybe; but certainly not in the details.

One thing does irk me, but it has nothing to do with the school. It's my perception that West Coast people and East Coast people are very different, especially the guys. Most of the men here, while friendly enough, strike me as hyper-masculine. And words like "dude" and "bro" are used far too often. Is it insecurity? Or is it simply a socialization issue? In any case, I find it easier to talk to people from my own coast and international students. East Coast people seem more foreign to me than actual foreigners. Very bizarre.

Two more days of nuts-and-bolts sessions. Then, it's off to New York for the weekend. I have to be back in New Haven on Monday for the second week of orientation, which will be busier and more interesting. Actually, I'm getting somewhat impatient for classes to start. I want to get this show on the road.