O-WEEK: Part One!

ORIENTATION IS OVER! I feel like I can breathe a little easier now. The last four days have been intense. I think I worked more in the last few days than I have in the last few years. I felt so completely exhausted at the end of each day, but I am very appreciative of the learning experience.

For individuals like me, who have been out of a rigorous academic system for several years (Class of '07), it was a good acclimatization course back into that whole crazy, chaotic (and ultimately rewarding) world.  It gave me a sense that Northeastern really cared about my success as an individual by giving me that time to catch up and “re-learn”.

So, here’s the plan! I’m going to divide the Orientation week summary into two separate posts to give you some more detail about each day. There are so many things about each day I could go on and on about, but I’ll try to keep things as succinct as possible!

Day One:

I walk into Dodge Hall at 8AM, and after breakfast, we dive right into introductions from faculty and staff, followed by a quick overview of our program. We take the next hour and a half getting to know each other through a series of short ice-breakers. There are 61 of us this year, and the men outnumber the women by a substantial amount. A lunch break and the profile photo sessions are right after that. Then we split the group and break into our separate sections (yeah, section 36!).

Our section meets with Professor Bannister for a Skill Development session. Prof. Bannister gives us a brief overview of the "Living Document": the 40-page paper we'll be working on all year as we learn to develop/improve our management skills. This session is then followed by the dreaded Accounting assessment. I don't really remember what happens for the next half an hour, but I leave Dodge 150 in one piece. I do have to spend another half an hour recuperating on the couches in the main lobby.

And then to finally, finally wrap up the day, we're taken out on the Boston Duck Tour! This is my first time taking the tour, even though I’ve lived in the Boston area since 2008. I come home and we have a small toast to my first day of graduate school. The celebration is short-lived, though, as I remember I have to work on my first-ever case study for our group session on Thursday.

On the Duck Boat with Mr. Joker!

Massachusetts State House.

Day Two:

Wednesday is no less challenging than the first day – we start out with our section’s Learning Team session. I think everybody is anxious to find out how the section has been divvied up. We break into our Learning Teams and get a chance to know each other a little bit better.  I’m glad our group is so diverse in personality, personal & cultural background and academic experience. It’s a good mix, I think.

Next we’re in a Student Services info session, and there is a LOT of information. Thankfully, we have Maude as our ultimate guide and resource and guardian angel. I  have pestered her with roughly 12390050239548091 emails containing every possible question one could have about the program. She is so so so so helpful – be nice to her!

Then we’re off to the Warren Center in Ashland for our team development session. My Learning Team decides to forge ahead with some of the work that isn’t due until next week – mainly, developing our team charter. We cover a lot of ground on the 45-minute bus trip, and we feel pretty comfortable with our outline.

The rest of the day is spent doing a lot of interesting problem-solving, team-building games, mostly in separate sections. This puts a (raging) fire in our collective bellies – our motto seems to be “let’s beat the other team’s score!”. Section 36, aka “THE GREEN TEAM” dominates, especially in the Don’t Break the Ice activity and the Magnifying Glass activity. And that’s the God-honest truth.     

I fall asleep on the bus ride back to Northeastern – it’s been a long day on very little sleep (thank goodness for coffee). I’m a little bit more awake when I get home, which gives me some more time to fiddle with the case study. I also decide to type up and streamline the outline from our Learning Team charter to get it out of the way. It’s a late night, but I go to bed feeling a little better prepared.