After a somewhat crazy journey and strenuous navigation through an american airport, Bee made it to Camelland at 1:00 a.m. She walked into the empty building that’s supposed to be her home for the next year. The first thing that struck her upon entry to the dorm was how empty it was. It was a hot day and there was no fan to be seen. Wondering how she was going to survive the next few days, Bee made herself fall asleep on her abnormally high bed.
Two days have passed since Bee’s first night on campus. Move-in day starts
in a few hours and she is fast asleep. She suddenly wakes up to someone yelling “Camels!”. She wonders who exactly this Camel person is and why people are screaming their name. She then realizes that she herself is now a Camel and they are probably welcoming new students to campus.
The last two days were fun for her, the campus only had students from Genesis and Odyssey, so it was pretty empty. Bee loved how quiet and empty the dining hall was and how she mostly did whatever she felt like doing. Genesis and Odyssey are programs prior to orientation for students who are first generation, students of color, and international students. Bee has never really thought about who she is before coming here. She has always been Bee, buzzing and flying around. But now she is about to start walking on four legs with two humps on her back — that is a big change for a Bee. Orientation is supposed to make that easy for her. Genesis and Odyssey helped her hold onto her buzz for a little longer.
Genesis and Odyssey were filled with ice breaking activities that introduced Bee to other students just like her. They had to describe who they are and where they come from. They shared information like the number of languages they speak, the number of cities they have been to, and the family members they have.
As a rejuvenated Bee walks into the dining hall, the sea of humans takes her
by surprise. She realizes now that all students are moving in and she will have to stand in lines to get her food. But she has gotten used to the quietness of the dining hall and the luxury of getting seconds without having to stand in lines. Bee looks for her favorite items to eat at the different stations, but quickly realizes that the only meals available for lunch today are salads & sandwiches. It’s a sea of romaine lettuce, salad dressings, and cold cuts. Bee finds herself a little lost and perplexed about the food for the upcoming days.
As Bee is about to take the first bite of a sandwich, her phone suddenly lights up with email notifications informing her that she has a schedule to follow today. Bee reads through the schedule and realizes she has to be in Palmer soon. Already late for her very first official session as a Camel, Bee tries to look for this place called “Palmer Auditorium.”
For the next 6 hours, Bee is welcomed by the deans, the president, and her student advisers. Wondering how many more times she must hear the phrase “Welcome to Conn,” Bee patiently waits for dinner time. She moves ahead with her first-year seminar team and learns that the day is not over yet.
Tired and almost wishing she was back on her abnormally high bed, Bee proceeds with the rest of the first-year humans to the big lawn-like place. Greeted by a river, not a sea, of t-shirt wearing humans who are clapping and hooting for the first years, Bee allows herself to smile for the first time. She feels a little better but immediately starts wondering if this will be another event where they must perform agonizingly awkward activities to introduce themselves. Bee was runing out of interesting things to say about herself. But Camel Moment is one of the best things that Bee experiences that day. As Bee went to bed that night, she wondered when she would start feeling like she has two humps on her back.
The next morning starts early for Bee, as she has breakfast with her First-Year Seminar (FYS) at 7:15. Bee wonders who thought it would be a good idea to schedule breakfast at 7:15, especially when they were supposed to stay up till 2:00 am for Batch Blast. Her day goes the same as yesterday, only it feels way longer. She feels like every speaker is getting slower with every minute they are speaking, and the clock is deliberately stuck. Bee is given a certain color for her orientation and she is supposed to sit with members of her orientation color group — a phenomenon that detaches her from her friends. She feels quite worried about having to interact with her fellow Camels, as she is not sure if she is even a Camel yet. Does she even want to be a Camel? Does she even like Camels? She wonders who thought it would be a good idea to have college students play pretend as an animal that is known for having two mountainous situations on its back.
Bee barely manages to get enough sleep for the next few days, as late-night Batch Blast events and mandatory early morning FYS breakfast continues. She attends Batch Blast events even though they are optional. The first night, Bee climbs a fake mountain and waits 45 minutes in a line for cotton candy & boba tea. The following night, Bee sits through a hypnosis session where she starts questioning how much control she has over her willpower. The third night of Batch Blast is where she has the most fun, as she walks through a haunted house where everyone seems to scream no matter how many times they say they are not really scared of fake ghosts.
During the day, she sits through sessions about the curriculum of the college, consent and bystander responsibility, self care and mental health, and different activities of college life. She knew people became addicted to caffeine during their college years. Her orientation was giving her a good glimpse of the reason behind such addictions. Bee learns a lot of names and a lot of information about different humans over the next few days. She can’t possibly understand how everyone thinks this is a small community given at the rate at which she is meeting new people.
One of the activities Bee particularly enjoys is the session where a student of Class of 2022 performs a poem they wrote about their home and identity. Bee is then asked to do the same after being given a poem template during her FYS meet up. It’s an activity that allows Bee to finally know about her classmates beyond the quick introduction of their names and one random fact about them- selves.
At the end of three days of long lectures about how different college is from high school, what the gazillion resource centers are, and the million ways to contact them, Bee, along with her fellow classmates rings a gong and the sound echoes through Castle Court. Bee will always be a Bee, but now is also finally a Camel. •
