Hi everyone,

I know it has been a few since my last post, but I promise I haven't left. Instead, today was move-in day at school. Today has been very long and very busy, so I will try and recount it as best I can.

To start, my mom and I woke up at 6:30 to get a head-start on the day. Luckily we packed our bags the night before, the smart thing to do, which saved us some time this morning. After getting ready, mom booked an uber and we were off.

Surprisingly, we made it to campus no later than 8:15, however getting unloaded was a whole other ballgame. Our uber driver, a kind woman named Amy, was thankfully glad to stick with us until the very end, even staying to help us unload her car. Before she left she gave us both a hug and said, "I feel like I know you both. Good luck at school!" It was a very thoughtful thing to do. 

Next, the two of us waited for a cart to be rolled our way. Once we had one we quickly piled as much as we could into it and headed up to the room. 

Just as I had hoped I was placed on the honors floor. However, this meant that I would be staying in the very top of the building. No, really, the only thing above me is the roof and laundry machines. It's a nice room but the view isn't that great. Currently I'm typing this at my desk, which is directly placed under the wall of windows. Unfortunately my roommate isn't here yet, which is really hard. 

After we unloaded all of my stuff I quickly left to take my placement exam. Some advice- the test is holistic, meaning that, in my case, the first 25 questions were listening based, the next 60 were reading comprehension and fill in the blank, while the last few were essays. Actually there was only one essay and the prompt was "write about yourself to best showcase your Chinese skills. Max. 700 words." I'm not going to lie, the listening portion was very challenging just based on the delivery alone. With a five minute audio and no pause button, you're essentially expected to know, on the spot, what everyone in the dialogue is saying.

After I made it back to my room we unpacked some more stuff and went to check me in for orientation. At UH, orientation isn't mandatory, and it isn't free. For a student alone to go would cost them about $125, and if their parent(s) want to go it would be another $50 per guest. Honestly, it's too early to say if its worth it, but I can tell you not that, at least this year, the NSO schedule is conflicting with the res. hall schedule. I've honestly already questioned whether or not this was worth it, and I feel like it's not but only because everything is optional and you're not actually told whats included until after you've paid. Naturally. And let's not forget that my mom leaves in a week, and to be honest I would rather see her than go to a lecture on getting involved.

Speaking of which, after my mom left I went to the first floor meeting. After that, I went to both my neighbors and introduced myself. One pair seems very friendly, but the other seemed like they didn't want to be bothered. I also think they wen't to high school together, which could make it harder to befriend them. Overall the people are friendly, but I haven't met another Chinese major since being here. I did meet a kinesiology major who's very nice. Her name is Ashley and it seems like we have a lot in common. 

I know that everyone here is "nervous about making friends" and "is just as nervous as you are" but based on how people acted today, it really felt like everyone knew each other. Even the foreign kids! Add that to the fact that my roommate is now unsure of when she's even arriving is making me feel very left out. Honestly I'm not sure if I want to be here or if I just want welcome week to be over.. Probably both. And don't get me wrong the campus is very nice but it's very lonely here and I'm, again, not sure if I want to be here. I'll give it a semester and see how I feel. 

Besides that I think move-in went pretty good. Tomorrow I've decided to skip out on the orientation in favor of spending more time with my mom. 

Until next time,
Aislinn