Dusty Penguin

Child of God and in love with my Lord. Wife of a wonderful man. Mother of a young adult, two teens, and a miscellaneous menagerie of furry and finned creatures. Work full-time outside of home and as little as possible at home:)

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Location: Cedarville, Ohio

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

College begins

The summer just flew by, and before we knew it, it was time to leave to take Erika to college.
The lists had been checked twice (and we still forgot stuff), the van was loaded, and we were on our way. Wait, did I say the van? Yep. My Alero got hit by a deer late one night while I was driving home from work. She leaped right into my left front fender. So, my car was in the body shop and we had a rental. We paid the difference to get a van so we could transport Erika's stuff to college.
The trip to Cedarville is about 6 hours, which isn't bad. We left after I got off work on Thursday and got in about 1 a.m. We stayed with a lovely older Christian couple who live just 2 blocks from the college. Our orientation weekend started bright and early on Friday and we were busy, busy, busy all the time!
The entire weekend was so exciting, I don't think I can begin to put it all into words. The thing that struck us over and over, though, was what a hugely different experience it was from our experiences with Alfred State College. First, we knew what dorm Erika would be in, so we drove directly there. All the RA's were out in the dorm parking lots, cheering every time a new car arrived. It was so awesome! The boy RA's across the road were in their parking lot blaring Christian music and greeting their arriving freshmen as well. Occasionally the two groups of RA's would have a little contest or game or something fun. We parked the van, and then headed over to the orientation building to get keys and a whole bunch of other details. When we arrived there (just followed the Christian music on the loud speakers), they had someone take a polaroid picture of the family with the school mascot (Yellow Jacket).










The whole registration process was well organized and really went pretty quickly, only slowed down by the many friendly Cedarville students and staff who stopped to chat or help in any way. There were numerous tables to stop at, but this one with hundreds of keys was pretty funny to see.


Once we got through all the registration stations, we went over to Erika's new home and began to unload. Immediately people appeared out of the woodwork and the van was unloaded in minutes! People kept coming to the room offering to help in any way, offering cold water, and just being friendly.


It was a very hot, humid day, and her room is very, very hot, so we were dripping sweat as we worked. Duane and Jeremiah rearranged all the furniture, then they stepped out of the way and Erika and I began to unpack, organize, and get her settled in. Her room is an African safari type theme, and many people remarked that they liked it. At one point her roomate arrived, but it was impossible for two people to unpack at the same time, so they went shopping while we finished, then we got out of the way for them to finish. This is Erika's bed.

2 Comments:

Blogger Hannatu said...

Just wait until that first Cedarville blizzard hits! :) Is she in the dorm right across from Aunt J's old house? I'm so glad they did so much to welcome everybody and that she likes it there.

Friday, September 08, 2006 8:55:00 AM  
Blogger Dusty Penguin said...

She's in Printy.

Friday, September 08, 2006 9:00:00 PM  

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