ALIVE: Freshman Orientation 2002

The paperwork came in the mail as soon as I decided where I was going to go to college.  We registered for the orientation program and my mom and I were going to ALIVE (the WSU freshman Orientation) July 20-22, 2002.   

That day came.  Amber and Lauren went with us for the ride over.  That trip was my second time ever going to Pullman.  It seemed really long but we finally got there.  We parked the car, stood in line and signed in.  In the packet contained schedules, paperwork, identification, what group we were in, our room numbers and random miscellaneous information.  We went inside Stephenson’s lobby, got the keys to our rooms, and packed the stuff up the elevators and into our rooms.  I was in Stephenson East room 409.   

My roommate for that weekend never showed up, so I had the room to myself.  Amber and Lauren’s roommates did show up and they hung out with them.  I went and hung out with my mom.  We decided we were hungry so we gathered Amber and Lauren and drove to Moscow and had a sub at Blimpy’s.   

The next day we got into our groups and we got the tour of campus, went into the library, the Bookie, the REC center, the CUB and other random places on campus.  While on the tour, my orientation counselor (OC) told us, by the time we are done with WSU, most of your wardrobe will consist of crimson and gray.  I kind of laughed at her but she was right.  Most of my stuff I brought home from college was indeed WSU riddled.    

The second day we took our Math and English placement exams, created our email accounts, met with our advisors for class schedules (be sure to go to METRO and click on the bus) and got our Cougar Card.  By the end of the three days, it was time to say our goodbyes, pack up our stuff and look forward to August 26^th.  

 I didn’t realize how big the campus was, how much walking up hill we had to do and especially how hot it was in July.  I just about died walking around with my orientation group.  I didn’t really make any friends in my Alive group but I did see them around campus every now and then for the next five years.