Good Advice

I graduated again today.

Not really, but there was a big convocation ceremony that felt exactly like a graduation. In it, each school within USC was represented, we were given advice upon advice in the speeches presented, and I decided that the Dramatic Arts school is the best part of USC by far. We cheered for our Dean, ourselves, and even for the fact that our President loves theater. Drama kids represent!!!

The advice we received is endless, but here are some pieces that stuck out to me quite a lot:

1. Call your folks

2. Get sleep!!!

3. Get involved: try something new, go out of your comfort zone. College is a time to try new things!!!

4. Really get to know your faculty. They are amazing people who are here to help us.

5. Get to know your classmates! They are handpicked, special people from all walks of life and all corners of the world, and each has a story to tell.

6. Don't take any of this for granted. Four years will fly by!

7. Have fun.

8. (this was our President's speech) Strive to be literate in imagination, the arts, social media, great literature, and ethics.

9. Involve yourself. Strive, be ambitious, get out of your comfort zone, and you will not regret it.

I came up with that last one on my own based off of what I was told throughout the day.

As far as what I'm learning from the experience....

LA Lesson Number 1: There is ALWAYS something going on!

I can't believe how many events are happening around campus all of the time! It seems like every moment is filled with something exciting!! I was able, in just today, to start working on this advice I was given, all while attempting to take advantage of everything happening. The day started out with meeting new friends over a pancake breakfast, followed by the convocation.

Right after that there was a luncheon for the School of Dramatic Arts. Wow, these kids are great. I knew I loved theater people, but a bunch of them all in one place with equal passion and excitement for life and for their craft was amazing! I got the opportunity to meet many of them, as well as faculty. My acting teacher, Mary-Joan is incredibly sweet, and I met a wonderful professor who gave me great advice on how to fulfill my passion for Musical theater while still being able to study and do other things I'm really hoping to do while at SC. What great people!

After that was a personalized campus tour. It was my fourth official tour of the campus, but the best by far. We had a very small group, a really great and helpful tour guide (a student who worked as an Orientation advisor), and I got to find all of the buildings I'll have a class in except one. Hooray!!!

After hanging out in my room for a bit, I met up with my roommate and we went on quite an adventure! I bought a notebook for keeping track of people I'm meeting here, and signed up for information on two sports. Yes, that's right: Two. Maybe I'll reveal which ones later :) 

Visions and Voices had a really long line, but it was very worth every bit of waiting. 

Note to self before I forget, I need to print out my schedule again.

Anyways, Visions and Voices is a school-run arts organization to bring performers, authors, and other artists to campus to share their craft, advice, and stories. Sometimes it's interactive, but it is always thought-provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed watching performers like the Axis Dance Company and The Bengsons perform. They brought up social issues of today, pure expressions of life, and observations about day to day living that... I can't really describe. They're provocative and fascinating.

I got to meet some great people after Visions and Voices before meeting up with a friend for dinner! He helped me find the Drama Center on campus, then we parted ways and I went to my very first college dance.

Woah. What? Weird.

It was pretty fun! They called it a Highlighter dance because there was a black light, and everyone wore white shirts. No one actually drew on the white shirts, but it was still nice to dance and have fun!

I left early, due to being tired, but my day was not over yet... I know, right? Remember what I said about things always happening?

Kate and Sneha are two girls living in Pardee Tower with me, so we left the dance to check out the dorm room and ended up talking for a while in the dorm lounge. We were joined by other kids from Pardee tower several times and I got to know both of them a lot better. I'm really liking my dorm floor. Pardee floor two represent!

Ok, that's the end of *my* day, but other events that happened today were welcome lunches for all of the different schools, micro seminars, bike registration (Oh... I did that today too.... wait, that so doesn't feel like it was today), and many other informal events.

Wow. It's been a really, really long day. I'm getting excited for Welcome Week to be over: I'd like to have a normal, even schedule to figure out for day-to-day life. It'll be a lot easier.

Until then, however, Fight on, friends.