the beginning & the end

yesterday i had orientation at belmont. it was just a 1 day thing since i'm a transfer student. i had to be there between 8 and 9, and it ended around 3 (i got done at 2, though).

i was kind of expecting it to be a little boring. i was there by myself so i had no one to hang out with. i didn't realize that parents could come until about a week ago. i had already been to orientation at another school before and i didn't really think it was necessary for my parents to come.

the day consisted of different sessions. the students and parents were together during the first one, and then we were split up for the rest of them.

when we were walking to the second session, i met a girl that lives close to me, so we chatted and sat together the rest of the day. it was nice having someone to sit with and talk to.

most of the sessions were about things you can do on campus, like clubs you can join and other social activities. since i'm not going to be living on campus, i wasn't really interested in most of the activities because i won't be on campus other than when i'm going to class. but there were a lot of people from out of state that are moving here to go to school, so i'm sure that was really helpful for them.

after lunch, we were able to sign up for our classes. they split us up by our college, and there were only 4 people in the college of business. it was nice because we had more one on one time with our advisors.

my advisor emailed me a few days before and gave me a list of classes that she recommended i take, so i went ahead and looked them up and had a schedule made out. i just had to wait until orientation before i could register for them.

i got a tuesday/thursday schedule, which was what i wanted. i'll have classes the whole day, but it will be nice to only have to go 2 days a week. i also have a monday night class, but it's only for the first 8 weeks. hopefully that will go by fast!

then today i went and picked up my diploma from vol state!!

i thought i was just going to run in and get it, but it wasn't that easy. they told me a few months ago that i had everything in order and i didn't need to do anything else to graduate. but when i got up there, they said that i was missing a math class. i knew i had taken enough math classes, but i had to get one substituted in for the one i needed.

i had to go to another building and find someone to fill out the substitution form, and it took about an hour just for that. and of course i had addison with me. she was ok for a little while, but after a while she wanted to get down and explore. it took a while to get all of the information for the substitution form because some things had to be faxed over from another building. the professor that was helping me played with addison and even pulled up some veggie tales videos on her computer for addison to watch. it was very helpful and made addison really happy.

after the substitution form was filled out, i had to take it to yet another building and have someone else sign it. luckily he wasn't hard to find. then, i had to take it and have the vice president sign it. i was worried that he wouldn't be there (i thought i was pretty lucky to have found everyone i needed there during the summer), but he was there and signed it. i took it back to where i had started and they did whatever it is they needed to and now i have my diploma!

i may have shed a few tears along the way, but i'm just glad i got it. i would have cried a whole lot more if they had said i wasn't going to get it.

it was kind cool that i began my life at belmont yesterday and i ended my life at vol state today. i'm so excited to be starting at belmont in the fall, and i'm glad to be done at vol state!