So here I am...

In the last remaining minutes of my First Day. And yes, that means COLLEGE! I moved into my dorm room today; tomorrow my roommate is arriving, but for today I have the room to myself. The day has been filled with scores of new names and faces, which I've been handily managing to forget, as well as lots of information and sporadic conversation. It's been a very long day. (I'm drowsing over the keyboard as I type.)


I checked in this morning and my dad helped me to move all my stuff into my room, and I spent a lot of the afternoon unpacking and setting things up (that's my dorm in the picture). Then the rest of the family came over to see my quarters (and bring some things I'd forgotten to pack...); they left, and I went to dinner and sat with some acquaintances. After dinner all the students were split up into groups and went off with their peer mentors for introductions and scheduling.

Then came the highlight of the day--matriculation. The word comes from Latin matricula, "register". Sometime before Latin it was related to the root for "mother"--as in Alma Mater. But what it actually means is that all the new students filed ceremonially into the chapel to a thundering accompaniment on the organ; then everyone, parents, students, and professors, sang a hymn; the dean charged the students and professors to abide by the rules and traditions of the college, and the students and professors read their responses; and then all the students came up and signed a sheet of paper to be added to the college's book of names--the Lamb's book of life, as one of the professors jokingly called it. Every student, past and present, has their name on the list.

So I'm officially a student. After that a bagpiper led a long procession of professors in their robes, faculty members, students, parents, etc. from the chapel to the commons where a giant tent had been erected. They served refreshments (yummy cookies and yummier brownies), and they had a jazz band playing and lights all around, and people stayed a chatted for a long time. (I am told that this arrangement, with the tent and band and lights and refreshments, is a lot bigger than what they've done in previous years. I was also told that this college is one of the few small colleges that still has such pomp and ceremony surrounding matriculation. I love that.)


The last event of the day was a Residence Hall Floor Meeting, which was short and sweet--what to do in case of a problem, advice about dorm life, that sort of stuff. And then some of the guys left for an undisclosed location, while the rest of us--myself included--retired to their rooms.

"And there was evening and there was morning: the first day." - Genesis 1:5