Dark Night

The next quarter

My move-in slot was the first of the morning, and my parents had paid for a hotel room so that I didn't have to get up at one in the morning to drive down to be on time. It was the first time I'd had a hotel room all to myself and I gotta say it was nice. I was early for check-in and was one of the first on my hall. The RA from last year was back, and he gave me a hug and asked how my summer had been before checking me in. I looked around, did a quick damage survey--there was none, we'd been good-- and grabbed one of the big carts to bring my stuff up with. Those carts were a godsend, I only had to make one trip. I moved my car back in the parking lot so somebody could take the good space and went up to unpack. We'd talked before finals last spring and decided to keep our old arrangement for this year. Johanna was usually just there for sleeping so she was glad not to have to climb the ladder to the top bunk and Serafina liked the elevation from the top. I was happy to be back, and I started out by making my bed first. I had a thing where I always wanted to be ready to nap. I got my lockbox secured again  before unpacking my clothes. From there, it was just a matter of slapping my textbooks on the bookshelf, arranging my printer and computer, and I was basically done. Fine tuning could come later. I set out onto the hall to find the friends from last year and to introduce myself to new freshmen, remembering how welcoming everybody had been to me.

Several of us ordered pizza for lunch, and it was after that that Johanna arrived. I helped her bring her stuff up and we talked about our summers. Then it was Serafina's turn to move in. "When did you get that?" she asked, grinning, as she indicated my new surfboard.

"My grandpa," I said, patting the board affectionately. "Birthday present. He wanted to get me something I'd use and have fun with."

"Nice grandpa," she said, and I agreed. Nobody's grandpa is as good as mine. After we unloaded her stuff, the three of us went to dinner and talked about the upcoming year and what we wanted to see at Zero Week. "I love Zero Week," Johanna said. "It's usually the only time of the school year where I can just goof off and have fun without worrying about coursework." She was a vast overachiever and had taken extra engineering courses, adding summer quarter as well to get done in four years.

Surprisingly, Serafina only signed up for going to the bookstore with us and the Enormous Activities Fair; her relationship with Virgil had progressed a lot farther than I'd guessed and I suspected I'd be seeing a lot less of her this year. She was my main friend here and I'd need to do something about that since Johanna was usually studying or working in the engineering buildings. Still, I wasn't entirely friendless, I still had John, and there were other friends, I just wasn't as close to them.  This would be my year to make friends. After dinner, we went to Target to get incidentals that everybody tends to forget and played around in Westwood until it got late.

The next morning we all slept in and went to brunch, and back at the dorm we all spent some time getting to know our new neighbors. There was open-air concert scheduled for that night that we went to, which was fun if too loud. The next morning I was scheduled to meet with my faculty committee right off the bat. I liked my committee; they asked how my summer had been and congratulated me on a great freshman year. We reviewed classes I needed to take this year and my goals, then I met with my faculty advisor to register. That done, I raced to catch up with my roommates at the activities fair.

There still wasn't really anything specifically for climate science majors, so this year I concentrated on adding social activities rather than trying to fit in science clubs I really didn't like, although there was a Women in the Physical Sciences that looked promising. I took a flyer for the DanceSport Club (ballroom dancing) and a group from the undergraduate admissions office that did campus tours for prospective students. There must be something wrong with me. Sure, the majority of clubs had to do with majors that weren't mine, country or origin or ethnicity clubs that were not me, religious groups, political organizations, or hobbies that didn't really interest me, but I really should be able to find clubs that interested me. I needed new interests.  I took information on the Science Policy Group and Project Literacy. That night we went to a movie shown outside, drive-in style but with no cars.