Hello everyone! Since so many people both on Steem and in my life seemed to enjoy my daily entries, I've decided to log some of my college experience since it has just started (at least in person). I apologize for the lack of pictures in today's article. I will try to take more pictures in the future. I'm not sure how long or how often I'll be making these entries. I'm just gonna see how interesting they are when writing them, and post until it feels stale. Day 1 was not stale. Let's discuss it!

Day 1

Moving in

Packing

Well I was late to the ball game for moving in. We were supposed to move in on Sunday, but I had to work so I scheduled my move in for Monday. Packing was tedious, but I'm not too nervous about forgetting something since I'm driving home for church every Sunday. None the less, I felt like I had a lot of stuff considering I could hardly see out of my rearview mirror, but after talking to some of my friends here at college, I actually packed light.

Driving

As I said, I could barely see out of my rearview mirror. So the drive was a little stressful because I was trying to remain conscious of what was going on around me. To top it off, the first other car I saw was a police car, and I was really nervous he'd pull me over cuz of the stuff blocking the mirror. On the drive, I always stuck to the lane for the next turn so I wouldn't have to quickly change lanes.

Driving to New Jersey, I remembered how disgusting the roads and surrounding nature look. In contrast, the sky looked absolutely stunning yesterday. It reminded me of a story my high school English teacher told us: after 9/11 he was volunteering to help clean up all of the rubble and debris. Someone in the work crew had ordered a pizza, and he saw the pizza truck driving through this desolate landscape. He said the contrast was really interesting because on the one hand you have all of these dark colors and this ruin that represents a horrible moment in New York's history, and on the other you have a colorful representation of life in New York. Seeing how bad that contrast yesterday reminded me of that story.

Getting to School

When I got to school, I was immediately helped by the public safety team. They gave me my room key, and the woman looking through the keys happened to be my dorm's CA (if that's what it's called). So she and the team immediately celebrated when they heard I'm living in that dorm. It made me feel really welcome! I look forward to getting to know them more.

After I got my room key, I decided to unload my car. I couldn't find parking near the dorm so I parked at a chapel that's probably a 10 minute walk from the dorm. My friend who helped me unload did not appreciate that, but I enjoyed the exercise. She especially did not enjoy it when we reached the dorm and a parking spot had happened to open up right next to it. None-the-less, when I have huge muscles it will be because of that 10 minute walk carrying moderately heavy stuff.

Getting to the room

When I got to the room, I ran into 2 of my roommates (I have 3 all together). I met one of my roommates parents, and then went into my room to organize it. I might have brought too many clothes. I need to go buy more hangers and see if I can fit them all neatly into the closet. If not, I will be taking some home this weekend. I also made my bed and set up my stuff. I am fortunate to have a desk to sit at while I work. I look forward to doing my programming assignments here, and also writing articles here.

Eating Lunch

After I finished unpacking, I went to go get my student id. I had not sent a photo so they took my photo. I'm not going to lie. In the photo I look like a deranged serial killer. I have no idea why, but at least I combed my hair for it.

After I got the student ID, we went for lunch at the dining hall. There is an entire station dedicated to being allergy friendly so I got my lunch from there. I had chicken, pork, rice, and squash. It was alright, but not as good as I had hoped. Still food is food, but I don't think I will be gaining too much weight like my parents said I would. I ate lunch with Zoe, and our other friend. Zoe reminded me that I still haven't posted some of our recordings. I should really do that, I had forgotten we made them because we made them almost right before I went to Germany.

Exploring

After lunch, we explored the campus, and found where Zoe's classes will be. She is being smart and finding the rooms ahead of time so that she isn't lost on the first day of classes. I think I will do that too. We got to see the fine arts building where we all auditioned for the school, and I noticed that the light in the bathroom would cause anyone with epilepsy to have a seizure. It kind of flickers like the lights would flicker in a creepy old horror movie. I know those kinds of movies are fiction, but I have to remember that anything is possible in Jersey.

After we explored, Zoe went to practice, and my friend and I went back to my room and noticed that my roommate was there. We all left together, and went to get water ice at a big social event they were having. They had bouncy houses, a food truck, water ice truck, and a donut truck. The donut truck had a line longer than the line at a Chick-fil-a drive through, and when we saw what the donut truck was selling, we understood why. They had some kind of ice cream cone with a mixture of donuts and ice cream; it looked really good. I was really glad that I can't eat dairy products because I went right past that long line and got into the short line for water ice. That was good also, and I am very thankful to the school for raising tuition, and using the money to hire a bunch of food trucks to give me the illusion that it's free.

Working Out

After that, I went to the school's gym. It's one of the nicer gyms I've been in, and I really wish I didn't have to wear a mask the whole time. A lot of the people in the gym had their masks down, but the woman who signed me in gave me a strict lecture to make sure to wear my mask, and I'm really bad at breaking rules. The good news is if I pass out and drop a barbell on my head, my family will probably be able to get a nice settlement (btw that's sarcasm). Rider apparently is a very good school for athletics so there were a lot of really fit looking people in the gym. There's also a basketball court. If I ever feel like hurting myself, I will challenge one of the basketball players to a 1v1. I'm hoping some of my friends from the choir college will join me one day in playing basketball or volleyball. The problem is a lot of us stink at both.

Meeting some freshman

When I got done at the gyms, one of the people I'd met in the freshman class invited me to come to their room to meet since it's in the same dorm that I live in. Apparently a lot of the freshman live in that area, and one by one they entered. I arrived expecting to meet two, and at first there were two, but then there were three, and then four, and then five, and eventually around 10. I felt like Beorn in The Hobbit. So there I was in a room with about 10 freshman girls - knowing only one, and having expected to meet two - trying to remember who was who, and whose major was what. Something I found humorous was the freshman in that area have a communal sign that says "days without crying: " and a number. They are currently at 0, but were very excited when we talked about it because they were edging on one. They invited me to have dinner with them, but I already had plans, and went back to my room.

Dinner

I went for dinner with my roommates. We once again went to the dining hall, and we sat on the other side of the room. I had chicken and green beans. It was good. One thing I am curious about is how the next dinner will be. Will it be the same foods or different foods? I shall know tonight, and you will have to read the next post to find out. In the dining hall, I saw one of the other composition majors sitting with his mom, and he talked about how I'm tall in real life. I completely forgot that some people have only seen me over zoom. I also met several of the freshman guys. I don't really know anything about them other than possibly their names. There are still great odds that I mess that up, but I hope I remember them.

Watching Hermicraft

After dinner, I watched some Hermicraft episodes with my friend. We have played minecraft together, and I thought she would like Hermicraft. I think she did. I have been watching pretty steadily since season 5.

Practicing and Coding

After that, I went to my dorm and checked out the practice rooms we have in the basement. I practiced for about an hour, and was sad because the piano was pretty bad and the practice rooms with good pianos were locked. The piano I used always sounds soft - even if you play loud. After an hour, I reasoned that I was doing more harm than good by playing on this piano because I couldn't implement any dynamics whatsoever. Let's hope the good pianos are unlocked soon.

So I decided to go upstairs and work on a project. I wrote the code for a voting bot last week, and a genetic algorithm to try to find the best parameters for it. I nearly had it working when I left, but it was having a problem. I got that problem solved last night, but now have the problem that the genetic algorithm never stops. I think the generation counter is broken, and I need to troubleshoot it. Soon I will be able to begin testing the bot and trying to see if it's better than the one we have. Unfortunately I can't just ask my dad for help anymore so I'm going to be using google (and my dad's email) a lot this semester.

My Parents Visiting

Around 10pm, my parents arrived with some stuff that I had not been able to bring earlier, and some stuff I'd realized that I would need. They saw my room, and gave me some suggestions. Earlier my roommate's girlfriend had wanted to see how my room is decorated, but realized it isn't decorated. I've realized a lot of people go all out in decorating their room. I don't really see the point since you're just gonna have to tear it down in a few months. My parents and I talked for a bit, and then I walked them out. I then got ready for bed, and went to sleep.

Conclusion

So far, college has been a lot of fun. I'm sure it will get a little more dull as I get used to the experience, but I'm having a great time, and hope you enjoyed reading about my day. Have a nice day!