Oh man, SO much happened and this is the first time I've been able to sit down and actually write it all out so this will be long.

When I left off last I was on the way to meet my friend Embher and her boyfriend, who I just now realized I don't know his name. Anyway, we met at this restaurant about a block from our hotel called the Eleventh Street Diner. It turned out to be this Jewy McJewstein restaurant and it was awesome. Someone walked by with a matzo ball soup and the fucking matzo ball was the size of a softball. Anyway, so she ended up being really cool and her boyfriend was okay but he didn't talk too much. He had just gotten tattooed the same day as me - he got the coexist symbols down his leg so I freaked out and took a picture to send to Danielle since that's exactly what she wants. So I had a grilled veggie sandwich and some delicious potato and asparagus soup with a root beer. We talked a lot and I didn't realize until then how thick her Texan accent which I thought was awesome. Afterwards we decided to meet up at our dorm but I wanted to drop off my food at the hotel and they needed to go get their jackets. YEAH, JACKETS. In the middle of fucking July and we needed jackets. I LOVE YOU CHICAGO WEATHER. So while they go their jackets I went on a trek to find the Columbia store. I think I walked for like an hour and couldn't fucking find it even though I was SURE of where it was. We ended up around my dorm and by this time Embher decided they were gonna nap so I was like whatever. So we went to the dorm but they wouldn't let us check them out for whatever reason. (When I asked the security guard why she's like "Uh, iuno, they just told me to say no.") But the building looked really nice and we walked up and down that street and there's lotsa cool stuff within walking distance. Tons of restaurants, a pizza place, Walgreens, and a little farther is a Target. Also within a decent walk (more like a bike ride) is a Jewel Osco for food shopping and a bunch of other shit. The three main streets (Michigan, Wabash, and State) are within a block or two of each other so I'm really not too far from anything. So then we stopped at Walgreens to buy q-tips and ended up seeing a guy get busted for shoplifting. Out of nowhere I just heard a huge crash and like five big black dudes tackled the shit out of this other black guy and they're liek WHAT THE FUCK YOU DOIN MAN, WHATCHU DOIN!! And I'm just liek YES YES YES. So then we leave and on the way back to the hotel we also saw a guy get pulled over by a cop on a quad. WHAT. They also have hybrid buses.

So we get back to the hotel and decide to rest since I had been up and walking since 6. I decided to google the Columbia store and find out I was SO close to it, it was just on the 600 block of the parallel street. I also notice that it closes at 5 and by this time it was almost 4 so we decided to head out again. So we go and the walk was nice, a bit chilly. Michigan Ave was the coldest street because all the skyscrapers cast shadows on the entire street and it's also parallel to the lake. But we get to the store and there was this old black lady named Sonja working there and she's liek HEY HOW YA'LL DOIN. And I didn't really hear her at first so she said it again and I'm like Oh, hi and she comes over to talk to us and asks why we're here - Oh, Columbia! So you're a film major? Yes, yes I am. That's wonderful, where ya'll coming from? Philly. Nah uh! That's where I'm from! Oh shit, really? Yeah, what part? Northeast. What high school? CAPA. NO WAY! MY DAUGHTER WENT THERE! Now what th efuck are the odds of that! So we talked to her for a long time and then ended up buying purple Columbia PJ pants, black Columbia sweatpants, a notebook for Ken, static clings for our cars, and my mom got a jacket. So we finally get back to the hotel and rest for a while and after being lazy decided to go get foodz. During this trek I also set out to find a snow globe since Ken's been waiting for once since March. All day we had been looking for snow globes but no one had any. Finally, at the 200 block of Michigan (our hotel was 1100) I found one! Then we headed back toward the hotel and found a small restaurant called the Artists Snack Shop which was overpriced and not so great. Then we went back to the hotel and chillaxed cause I had to be up at 7 for orientation.

Next morning and headed right to orientation, which was only a block from our hotel (thank god cause I was barely conscious). We got there and I was immediately shuffled upstairs to sign in, get a name tag and take my ID picture. Then back downstairs they had breakfast for us which was awesome - free bagels/muffins/coffee/orange juice. We ended up sitting with some old guy who was really witty and awesome and his son who was a 23 year old transfer students who didn't seem ecstatic to be sitting with a freshman. GET OVER IT. Then Embher called and found us and she was so salty that we had to take ID pictures cause she literally jumped from the shower to the building. So we sat and then people talked and we saw videos and then were whisked away from our parents. We were put in different groups (I was group 2 and Embher was 1) and were sent upstairs. Our orientation leader pretty much peaced out without us so I ended up leading the group (of course). After standing around an elevator for like ten minutes while everyone's like "durr" I'm like fuck this we're going up. So I squeezed everyone onto one elevator and headed toward room 500. We then learned about all the different credits we need and met one of the film advisers and another teacher. After sitting and listening to tons of bullshit we got to register for classes! My schedule is as followed:

Monday - Speech: Communicating Message, 3:30-6:20pm
Tuesday - Development and Pre-production, 3:30-6:20pm
Wednesday - Writing and Rhetoric II, 2-3:20pm
History of Cinema, 6-9:20pm
Thursday - Biology of Human Reproduction, 6:30-9:20pm
Friday - Writing and Rhetoric II, 2-3:30pm

YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, NO FUCKING CLASS BEFORE 2!!!

So after registering they had a free lunch for us so I had a delicious caesar salad and a tuna sandwich with chips and a water. Embher found us yet again and her schedule sucked. She couldn't take any film classes since she didn't score high enough on the placement test which is bullshit cause she was 1 point away. But whatevs. So then we had to listen to people talk and watch videos and I left for like a half hour cause it was really boring then I realized there was nothing to do since we had already checked out so I came back and sat on a couch and slept a little. Finally we were sent away again for like, "social time" or something. Basically we stood in a circle and played that "step into the circle if.." game which was okay. Then after that we just talked until 1something and I ended up making friends with this spanish kid Josh from Atlanta who was AWESOME. We're both big sarcastic ass holes and he was telling me that his high school literally had ZERO art programs so him and some friends started up their own literary magazine. Then we were sent back downstairs to get our IDs but they weren't ready yet so we just stood in a circle taking surveys and talking and everyone I've met so far is just so cool. Then we realized we were right in front of the doors where we were getting our IDs so we ended up being first in line and it was awesome. So we got our IDs right away and my picture is okay but I look kinda trashy.


My hands hurt so brb!