{"id":17843,"date":"2013-08-30T12:43:07","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T16:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=17843"},"modified":"2013-08-30T12:43:07","modified_gmt":"2013-08-30T16:43:07","slug":"50-shades-of-frosh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2013\/08\/30\/50-shades-of-frosh\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Shades of Frosh"},"content":{"rendered":"Orientation week is a changing thing<\/strong>. Heraclitus would laugh at me, I\u2019m sure, but it is intriguing to really experience the proverbial passage of time. To think that I am getting older, that I may be out of touch<\/em>.\r\n\r\nFor instance, when I learned that the headline artist for the 2013 Orientation Concert<\/a> is going to be Lupe Fiasco<\/em>, my response was:\r\n\r\n
\"\"<\/a>
Source: http:\/\/www.ign.com\/boards\/threads\/post-a-gif-of-your-reaction-when-johnnywoodburner-finally-posts.452985721\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nTo which I received a look not altogether dissimilar to this:\r\n\r\n
\"\"<\/a>
Source: http:\/\/perfectlycursedlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/huh-gif.gif<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nAt which point I felt . . .\r\n\r\n
\"\"<\/a>
Source: http:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/tagged\/embarrassed-gif<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nI remember my orientation week<\/strong>, back in September of 2009. Not really that long ago, but somehow it feels ancient. The whole memory revolves around a t-shirt<\/em>. Possibly the most significant sign of orientation week\u2014the t-shirts!\r\n\r\n
\"\"<\/a>
Source: http:\/\/www.680news.com\/files\/2010\/09\/3556db3248888bd7af7d3a1ae6bb-500x375.jpeg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nI was at New College<\/a> then<\/strong>, and our shirts were an orangey-yellow, with green lettering. They had a bull, or a gnu<\/em> (it\u2019s like a bull and a deer mixed) on the front. I cannot remember the theme of my orientation, but I remember receiving a laundry bag full of goodies, and a water bottle. Deodorant, gum, pencils, and condoms\u2014everything a first year student really needs! Mostly, I miss that water bottle.\r\n\r\nAnyway, the next thing I remember<\/strong> I was standing in a crowd of yellow t-shirts. All of us wide eyed, wondering what was happening. Orientation leaders were shouting, calling names, getting us all excited, and I was thirsty. I remember it was hot and loud, and someone gave me a lanyard with my name on it.\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s when I left.<\/strong> Yep, that\u2019s right\u2014guilty as charged<\/em>. I turned and walked quietly away.\r\n\r\nWhy?<\/strong>\r\n\r\n#1\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am not a fan of crowds.\r\n\r\n#2<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was thirsty.\r\n\r\n#3\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wanted to experience orientation in my own way.<\/em>\r\n\r\nI walked from New College down Willcocks St.<\/strong>, across St. George St., through that little alleyway that is beautiful in the fall and slow in the winter, and found myself at King\u2019s College Circle<\/em>. I sat down on the grass at the side of the road, on the lawn of UC<\/a>, and watched.\r\n\r\nIt was unbelievable!<\/strong> There were so many t-shirts. Red, blue, purple (mostly purple skin), orange, green! Everywhere I looked I saw a new t-shirt and a new face, a new set of wide eyes, a new smile. I watched everyone marching, streams of cheers and chants (some nice, some funny, some . . . not so nice).\r\n\r\nYes, perhaps I abandoned my orientation group<\/strong>, but it was because that\u2019s what I wanted to do. There is a special trick to orientation, and that is to recognize that the most important aspect is YOU<\/em>. With so much going on at once, it can be easy to get lost in the fray, but never forget that this is your U of T<\/em>!\r\n\r\nAs I watched, I became interested. <\/strong>I walked around campus and eventually found my way back to New College. Festivities were still in full swing, so I decided it was time to get involved. We ran obstacle courses on back-campus, ate hamburgers and pie, danced on a boat-cruise, danced at an awkward party, went out to a fraternity party, and a lot more that I can't remember.\r\n\r\nThere are many shades<\/em> to orientation week. <\/strong>I tried my best, but surely there is something that I missed. I\u2019ve heard that orientation Leaders<\/em> have the most fun, because they understand what it\u2019s actually about.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s about being interested.<\/strong> U of T offers a new opportunity in every direction that you look. Orientation week is like a 100 level course in opportunity seizure, geared to spark your interest in university life.\r\n\r\nThere was a lot of talk and noise in 2009<\/strong>, but the real value lay in the quieter, interesting moments\u2014the people I met, the places I explored, the things I remembered.\r\n\r\nWe are learning. We are students. It is your Orientation<\/a><\/em>!\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n'Til we meet again U of T, stay diamond!\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n-Stephen","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\nOrientation week is a changing thing. Heraclitus would laugh at me, I\u2019m sure, but it is intriguing to really experience the proverbial passage of time. To think that I am getting older, that I may be out of touch. For…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “50 Shades of Frosh”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “50 Shades of Frosh”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1758,63,7204,7206,6669,59,62,65,61,1,70,69,58,66,82,67,68,77],"tags":[10944,10945,10949,2078,824,10948,10946,143,819,10947,1317,144],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17843"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17843"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17912,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17843\/revisions\/17912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}