Attitude check: standing in the middle of Wonderful Wednesday and being trampled by undercover orientation leaders, neon collars peeking out from subtle sweaters, may be something in the category of "Only Emory." We have ROTC Army women doing pull ups (because why the hell not), we have Cokes for College Council concerns (because Emory students really care) and we have stripping highlighter-tee flash mobs.
Who doesn't want to do a salsa in the middle of a chilly Wednesday, hide-and-seek with the sun, a wrap for lunch that definitely forgot the bacon? Did you know that there's going to be a bacon shortage? Bulk up on your bacon and sausage satisfaction now, we're running low and soon our bacon wallets and bacon mints and bacon soap novelties are going to have to suffice.
We're crazy. We like our sweaters with slashes and pay extra for holes and rips and tears. It's chilly and our goosebumps prove it, but we still bustle and hustle out of the way for OLs who are Sexy and they Know It, wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble. I like us dancing on campus today. Dancing through this week, maybe, as season's wardrobes change and we avoid the coughs and colds onset by yummy indecisive weather patterns.
Sniffles. Someone in a classroom too warm for too cold outside extracts a half-gone roll of toilet paper (one-ply) from her packed full purse. She pulls the class trash can toward her center room seat, and nurses an autumn illness that couldn't have been avoided. Sniffles and sneezes, runny noses. Bundle better, boys and girls! Mama always used to tell me, bundle up, scarf tied tighter, socks rolled higher, and why are your pants so low.
Sitting in campus cafes this week, I find myself admiring the stacks of books and tables around me. Philosophers I have never heard of, biological specialties that I didn't know existed. Humble pie, maybe, that we are so diverse and so different and do so much, taking a moment to appreciate what I don't know and what there is for me to learn. I think ahead to the last time I will register for classes, and one more chance to branch out. Thoughts down the road, returning to focus on tests and midterms and assignments and senior year P.E. Daydreaming.
Who doesn't love a flash mob? Busy busy as we are mid-semester, when you all skipped to a center stage Wonderful Wednesday interruption, the rest of us watched. We rush from class to library to lunch on the fly, we eat running down the quad, we tap our toes in Starbucks lines that take too long. But everybody stops for a spontaneous moment of Emory entertainment, huddling, giggling, wobble, baby, wobble. Orientation's great.
- By Chloe Olewitz
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