Thangaraj House Bonding

Rarely in my life have I ever been in a situation when I am the first one awake in the morning, but as I walked towards the showers and heard no noise I was quite proud of myself for waking up so early. I got ready quickly and was going to head to breakfast when I realized most people weren’t going to breakfast until around 8 AM. Looking back, it really pains me to think I could have slept in for almost another two hours.

Around 8:20 AM, I met up with Cecilia, Adela, and Maria to have breakfast at Baker dining commons. We ate pretty quickly and ended up with quite some time before 10 AM when we had to be back in our dorm house for group activities. 

Biological Sciences Learning Center

We decided to explore more of the campus and try to find the Biological Sciences Learning Center, the building where we would have our classes in. Even though we had a tour of the way to those buildings, we hardly remembered where they were. We tried to get there with what little we remembered but, spoiler alert, that didn’t work out. Both of the routes we tried, ended us up on two different sides of campus. Finally, we decided to use Google Maps to help navigate our way there. Luckily we had not ventured too far from where the building was and were able to get there in less than five minutes. 

By the time we had reached the building, it was time to head back to the dorm building for the group activity we would participate in with our house. My house, Thangaraj, had decided to walk to the beach as our group activity. The RAs thought it would be good for us to explore more of Hyde Park and to spend some time at the beach.

Our house split up once we got to the beach. A few of us decided to go sit on the rocks near the water. The sound of the water flowing across the rocks and the beautiful views of the city made for a perfect spot to relax. We stayed for a little less than an hour, before heading back to campus to have our lunch.

Beautiful view from the beach

I spent lunch with Cecilia, Maria, Dian, and Cathy. I met Dian and Cathy today they are both from Rogers house. We discussed Cecilia’s love for black coffee, her disbelieve at Dian’s distaste for pineapple, and the fact that the food was actually really good today. The girls also shared their jealousy when I shared Thangaraj’s trip to the beach.

Mural outside Target

Shortly after lunch, I, once again, headed off campus. This time the destination was Target. Although a little less exciting than the beach, the trip was necessary to restock on some toiletries. At Target, I ran into Maxime and Shreejal, who were also shopping for some necessities. Shreejal needed a power strip and Maxime a jug of water and a mirror. When I first saw Maxime carrying the full-length mirror, my initial reaction was “Really Max?” but the more I thought about it the more I wanted one for myself. I restrained myself only because I did not want to carry that all the way back to the dorms. I quickly purchased what I wanted and walked back to the dorms.

The rest of my day was really laid back. I hung out a little with my roommate in our dorm, attended a quick transportation orientation held by the RAs, had dinner, and spent some time in our house lobby with some of our housemates. Today was definitely the most relaxing day of the trip. I am glad I had an opportunity to relax a little so tomorrow I can be well rested and full of energy for the first day of class!