CMU Part I

I decided since my time as CMU is quickly coming to an end I should write a little about my time here. This is part 1, I'm not sure how many parts there will be. Some things may be detailed, others not. That's because I'm just writing my memories and a lot of stuff here wasn't very memorable. I'll be posting this along with my usual crazy posts, so bear with me.

I applied to CMU on a whim, because I saw their business department was ranked pretty high and it seemed like I could get in. Before reading the college rankings for 2 minutes at Borders (too cheap to buy it) I had never heard of it. If I hadn't gone here, I probably would have gone to Umich or McGill in Montreal, most likely the latter because I wanted to go somewhere where few people from my high school would be. Almost everyone in the top 50 went to Michigan, not a bad school, would have been a lot cheaper, but I think it would have been too big for me. Most importantly, only McGill and CMU allowed me to get into a business program immediately instead of waiting 2 years like Umich.

So I got the "big envelope" from CMU, I figured it was a good school and enrolled without even visiting campus, though I talked to many people about it. People from my high school were pretty impressed. I had wanted to get into Duke or Northwestern, but I don't think I would have liked it much in those schools. Regardless, they don't have business programs, so I would have been econ which I have learned is not for me.

I arrived at CMU about two days before orientation started. I was in a small-ass dorm. My first impressions were that everyone seemed nice. The first night there I made two friends who would become good friends of mine for a while, and we went to some frat parties, back when they were still good here.

Everyone seemed really nice, I think it was mostly because not many people knew anyone at their new university and wanted to put on their best faces to find friends...the "real" people would sometimes emerge within weeks, months or even years. One of the people I met after playfair was Sergey who remains one of my best friends to this day.

Playfair was weird, definitely unforgettable. We ran around and acted like idiots. It was really pathetic, we tried to find people with the same birthdays as us at one point. I didn't meet anyone new there, hopefully they get rid of that someday.

My roommate back then was also a really good guy and I still talk to him. He came back drunk many times and woke me up, but was also a great help to me in many of my classes.

I also thought the campus was nice. It isn't too big or two small, about 5,000 undergrads which means you can meet a lot of people but not have to see them everyday.

I learned not to like the bus system here quickly, it was never on time, it was crowded, and I saw a woman shit her self on the bus seats. Not good.

I also was required to enroll in the campus dining program, which is the worst food in the world. They don't care about it because all freshmen HAVE to pay for it; almost nobody continues using it, so they are guaranteed new customers every year. Quality sucks, the people who work there are nice except the managers who seem to treat their underlings like shit.

Those were my impressions of CMU during orientation for the most part. Not too much happened that really sticks in my mind when I first got here. Part II will be posted sometime later...