Don's O: Day 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7 + Move ins
I really sucked at updating this past week. SO much happened during the rest of Don's Orientation week. Let's see if I can remember everything. I feel like I've been in a perpetual state of exhaustion. Ignore my constant going back and forth from past to present tense and any grammatical errors. Too tired to edit.
Day 3: Staff appreciation lunch. It was a carnival themed event. They consistently overfed us. We had a fancy dinner again later that evening with a freaking open bar. After dinner we all went to a club together. We pretty much took over the local public transit bus on our way there and we showed up really early so we didn't have to pay cover and had the club to ourselves for a little while. It was SO much fun. I usually hate clubs but I didn't mind it that time because it wasn't as packed and I knew nearly everyone that was there.
Day 4: As part of a team building exercise we needed to create a short "music video" for a pre-selected song. My small Don team was put together with another small team. We clashed a bit when we were first trying to get our ideas out there but it ended up going smoothly after that. It also ended up being a lot of fun. Our song was Daft Punk's "Technologic" and we called ourselves "Team Touch It". The dance we created had a lot of thrusting and wopping. It was a lot of fun watching the other team's dances as well.
Day 5: We got our first real taste of what being a Don would be like. The returning Dons from previous terms acted out roles of typical situations we might experience and the new Dons took turns acting out how they would handle that situation. Some of the scenarios included: students smoking marijuana inside their rooms, students throwing a party with alcohol, an international student feeling homesick, a roommate that had an issue with the way her roommate smelled, a student that was being bullied for being homosexual, students playing drinking games in the lounge and someone getting seriously injured, students vandalizing property, students being excessively loud during quiet hours, etc. It was a bit intimidating since everybody was watching how dealt with the scenario and gave you feedback afterwards about how you performed. It was extremely useful though and gave me a bit more confidence that I would be able to handle myself. I messed up in the marijuana scenario because I picked up the marijuana bag when I wasn't supposed to touch the drugs. I did really well in the stinky roommate scenario though, everyone told me I approached in the situation in the most non-threatening way and that my delivery was really smooth.
Later that day things got extremely emotional. All the Dons from my residence building got together in a group and we went around and talked about things that nobody would ever know just by looking at us. It ended up taking a very personal turn. People talked about how they were raped or sexually assaulted, how they grew up poor, how they had bad relationships with their parents, how they used to be incredibly insecure... We trusted each other enough to share some of our most deepest secrets. It was so eye-opening and shocking how little we know about the lives of others and what they've gone through and are currently going through. We all became so close in just a matter of days. They always looked to happy and confident to me, it was so hard to imagine that all that stuff happened to them. There's a quote I really like, "The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest. All because they do not wish to anyone else suffer the way they do."
Day 6: We moved out of the rooms we were staying in for Don training and moved back into the Don suites in our residence that we would be living in for the next 8 months. We started preparing for move ins.
Move-ins: I had some early arrivals (they moved in before the official move in date so residence was still a bit empty). I tried to talk to most of them and their parents. First meetings can be awkward, especially when people are still trying to get their room organized. One early arrival was a boy from the Philippines. He went to an international school though so he spoke fluent English and didn't even have an accent. He was very friendly and we hung out and talked for a bit as I showed him around campus.
I also have another story about the youngest girl in my building. She's only 16 right now. She was also an early arrival. As I was putting up Welcome banners I ran into her parents. They told me that their daughter was crying a lot because she was sad that they were leaving and they were wondering if I could talk to her. I thought that it was such a coincidence that just at the very time and place that I decided to put up the banner was when I would encounter my first student in need. I walked to her room and saw her in the hallway as she was coming back from the bathroom. I asked her if she wanted to talk and she nodded and opened the door to her room for me. We talked for quite a bit actually and she cried a lot more. She had lots of questions and I answered them as best as I could while trying to comfort her at the same time. I shared some funny stories and she even laughed a bunch of times between her tears. She said she felt much better afterwards. It felt really good that I was able to be there for someone.
The official move in day came and went. I was so anxious about it yet also very excited to finally meet everyone. We played an ice-breaker game with a frisbee (whoever caught the frisbee needed to say their name and something about themselves) and then we had our first residence meeting which I was in charge of. That meeting did not go so well. I really should have prepared for it more. Way more. I ended up finishing really early and I had an hour to kill before the next event started so I had no idea what to do. I had a mini moment of panic. It was the first time it kind of hit me that I was responsible for so many people and that they were all depending on me. I ended up taking them on a quick tour around residence and then gave them free time. I hung out in the lounge with a small group of them that stuck around afterwards.
Later on I did another activity with them. Everyone got a piece of paper and wrote down any fears or questions they had about university or anything they were excited about. It was all anonymous and I collected them all in a bag and read them out loud afterwards. A lot of them were scared about making friends, feeling homesick, not doing well, not being liked, etc. There were a few silly ones as well. Everyone was really supportive though.
It's been kind of a challenge trying to get to know everyone. I'm responsible for 50 students divided between three floors (two floors of girls and one floor of boys). I'm still really unorganized for now and still need to clean my room and decorate more and work on all the bulletin boards and plan events and stuff. It's still Orientation Week right now for all the first years and all the Dons are on duty in the night (we need to go around the buildings and make sure nobody is drinking/breaking the rules). My students have been extremely well behaved so far and I haven't had to deal with anything major yet. There was one student that posted in the facebook group that he was going to have a party in his room and I commented back saying that it probably wasn't the best idea to post that in the group that his Don created. I saw him later and we joked about it. The following day he randomly said to me that I was a great don. I asked him what he was basing that off of and he said that I just had a good attitude. Made me happy :). When I saw him again in the cafeteria one day he even called me over and tried to get me to come ahead of the long line to where he was. I didn't want to butt in front of others and set a bad example so I still ended up going to the back of the line, but it was still a nice gesture.
I think I'm doing okay so far. I'm getting along with the students that I've met and I'm trying to reach out to them as much as I can. I still have a long way to go. I'm really happy with my residence and the team I've been put on. Apparently the supervisors believe that the team I'm in (the West quad team) is the best one out of all the other residence small teams. They think that because they've seen us interact with each other and we all seem to get along really well and we communicate and work well together. I really lucked out.
BBQ lunch.
Making cake pops!
Rooftop jamming session.
Staying up late making Welcome banners.
My Don training certificate and a picture of our big team together :).
Filming our Welcome video.
Our "family photo" :) I laugh every time I see it.
Day 3: Staff appreciation lunch. It was a carnival themed event. They consistently overfed us. We had a fancy dinner again later that evening with a freaking open bar. After dinner we all went to a club together. We pretty much took over the local public transit bus on our way there and we showed up really early so we didn't have to pay cover and had the club to ourselves for a little while. It was SO much fun. I usually hate clubs but I didn't mind it that time because it wasn't as packed and I knew nearly everyone that was there.
Day 4: As part of a team building exercise we needed to create a short "music video" for a pre-selected song. My small Don team was put together with another small team. We clashed a bit when we were first trying to get our ideas out there but it ended up going smoothly after that. It also ended up being a lot of fun. Our song was Daft Punk's "Technologic" and we called ourselves "Team Touch It". The dance we created had a lot of thrusting and wopping. It was a lot of fun watching the other team's dances as well.
Day 5: We got our first real taste of what being a Don would be like. The returning Dons from previous terms acted out roles of typical situations we might experience and the new Dons took turns acting out how they would handle that situation. Some of the scenarios included: students smoking marijuana inside their rooms, students throwing a party with alcohol, an international student feeling homesick, a roommate that had an issue with the way her roommate smelled, a student that was being bullied for being homosexual, students playing drinking games in the lounge and someone getting seriously injured, students vandalizing property, students being excessively loud during quiet hours, etc. It was a bit intimidating since everybody was watching how dealt with the scenario and gave you feedback afterwards about how you performed. It was extremely useful though and gave me a bit more confidence that I would be able to handle myself. I messed up in the marijuana scenario because I picked up the marijuana bag when I wasn't supposed to touch the drugs. I did really well in the stinky roommate scenario though, everyone told me I approached in the situation in the most non-threatening way and that my delivery was really smooth.
Later that day things got extremely emotional. All the Dons from my residence building got together in a group and we went around and talked about things that nobody would ever know just by looking at us. It ended up taking a very personal turn. People talked about how they were raped or sexually assaulted, how they grew up poor, how they had bad relationships with their parents, how they used to be incredibly insecure... We trusted each other enough to share some of our most deepest secrets. It was so eye-opening and shocking how little we know about the lives of others and what they've gone through and are currently going through. We all became so close in just a matter of days. They always looked to happy and confident to me, it was so hard to imagine that all that stuff happened to them. There's a quote I really like, "The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest. All because they do not wish to anyone else suffer the way they do."
Day 6: We moved out of the rooms we were staying in for Don training and moved back into the Don suites in our residence that we would be living in for the next 8 months. We started preparing for move ins.
Move-ins: I had some early arrivals (they moved in before the official move in date so residence was still a bit empty). I tried to talk to most of them and their parents. First meetings can be awkward, especially when people are still trying to get their room organized. One early arrival was a boy from the Philippines. He went to an international school though so he spoke fluent English and didn't even have an accent. He was very friendly and we hung out and talked for a bit as I showed him around campus.
I also have another story about the youngest girl in my building. She's only 16 right now. She was also an early arrival. As I was putting up Welcome banners I ran into her parents. They told me that their daughter was crying a lot because she was sad that they were leaving and they were wondering if I could talk to her. I thought that it was such a coincidence that just at the very time and place that I decided to put up the banner was when I would encounter my first student in need. I walked to her room and saw her in the hallway as she was coming back from the bathroom. I asked her if she wanted to talk and she nodded and opened the door to her room for me. We talked for quite a bit actually and she cried a lot more. She had lots of questions and I answered them as best as I could while trying to comfort her at the same time. I shared some funny stories and she even laughed a bunch of times between her tears. She said she felt much better afterwards. It felt really good that I was able to be there for someone.
The official move in day came and went. I was so anxious about it yet also very excited to finally meet everyone. We played an ice-breaker game with a frisbee (whoever caught the frisbee needed to say their name and something about themselves) and then we had our first residence meeting which I was in charge of. That meeting did not go so well. I really should have prepared for it more. Way more. I ended up finishing really early and I had an hour to kill before the next event started so I had no idea what to do. I had a mini moment of panic. It was the first time it kind of hit me that I was responsible for so many people and that they were all depending on me. I ended up taking them on a quick tour around residence and then gave them free time. I hung out in the lounge with a small group of them that stuck around afterwards.
Later on I did another activity with them. Everyone got a piece of paper and wrote down any fears or questions they had about university or anything they were excited about. It was all anonymous and I collected them all in a bag and read them out loud afterwards. A lot of them were scared about making friends, feeling homesick, not doing well, not being liked, etc. There were a few silly ones as well. Everyone was really supportive though.
It's been kind of a challenge trying to get to know everyone. I'm responsible for 50 students divided between three floors (two floors of girls and one floor of boys). I'm still really unorganized for now and still need to clean my room and decorate more and work on all the bulletin boards and plan events and stuff. It's still Orientation Week right now for all the first years and all the Dons are on duty in the night (we need to go around the buildings and make sure nobody is drinking/breaking the rules). My students have been extremely well behaved so far and I haven't had to deal with anything major yet. There was one student that posted in the facebook group that he was going to have a party in his room and I commented back saying that it probably wasn't the best idea to post that in the group that his Don created. I saw him later and we joked about it. The following day he randomly said to me that I was a great don. I asked him what he was basing that off of and he said that I just had a good attitude. Made me happy :). When I saw him again in the cafeteria one day he even called me over and tried to get me to come ahead of the long line to where he was. I didn't want to butt in front of others and set a bad example so I still ended up going to the back of the line, but it was still a nice gesture.
I think I'm doing okay so far. I'm getting along with the students that I've met and I'm trying to reach out to them as much as I can. I still have a long way to go. I'm really happy with my residence and the team I've been put on. Apparently the supervisors believe that the team I'm in (the West quad team) is the best one out of all the other residence small teams. They think that because they've seen us interact with each other and we all seem to get along really well and we communicate and work well together. I really lucked out.
BBQ lunch.
Making cake pops!
Rooftop jamming session.
Staying up late making Welcome banners.
My Don training certificate and a picture of our big team together :).
Filming our Welcome video.
Our "family photo" :) I laugh every time I see it.
Click to view