As a new student here at Rollins, the words "New Student Orientation" mean three things: Meet friends, find your way around school, and have fun. Surprisingly, Orientation was every single one of those things, just maybe not as I expected. Instead of being thrown onto a campus full of first-years, where we were free to roam and make friends like I imagined, we were thrown onto a campus full of first-years, peer mentors, RCC meetings, and dozens of modules, where there was little freedom for you to just to roam and do whatever you wanted.
We have all heard of the dreaded "Freshman 15." Between the stress, busy schedules, cafeteria food, and lack of motivation to get to the gym, the 15 pounds we are supposed to gain during our freshman year has become stuff of legend. However, there are plenty of ways to get around the Freshman 15, and it is a lot easier than one would think.
It is the same routine every morning: wake up, roll out of bed, and staggeringly make my way to my dreaded 8:00am class. The teacher, like a predator scoping out for the weakest link, picks on me to answer a question and all I can muster in response is a series of grunts and sighs.
While achieving the high score on Peggle, Leslie Capobianco dances to "Ode to Joy" blasting from my iPhone. This is the "Who's Who: Leslie Capobianco Edition." I was afforded the opportunity to learn about Leslie and her career at Rollins while we chomped on Goldfish and drank Vernors ginger ale.
Where will you be next semester? Perhaps you could be riding camels on the weekends in Morocco, studying Greek architecture while surrounded by ancient ruins in Athens, or maybe learning Spanish on the northern coast of Spain? If any of these options interest you, then you are in luck because Rollins has all of these opportunities readily available for you.
During one's stay at Rollins College, a student is sure to be going out on weekends, and perhaps the occasional weekday. But where to go? What is safe? Where does the music I like get played? These types of questions have plagued Rollins students for millennia.