Dear Reader,
Today concludes the end of O-Week, and “O-What-A-Week” it was! So much has happened over the span of seven days; I’ve met so many amazing people, experienced things I never thought I’d do, and made memories that I’m sure will last a lifetime. This will probably be my longest post yet, so bare with me because I promise it’s worth the read.
SUNDAY
Move-In Day
There were so many mixed emotions on this day, however most of them were overshadowed by excitement. I can’t express enough gratitude to the volunteers who helped move my stuff. You are all tanks (shout-out to the person who carried my mini fridge up six flights of stairs – I owe you Starbucks or something).
After what was in my opinion, a quick move in process, I said goodbye to my family and was on my own. For those of you who know me, you might be able to guess that I quite dislike being left alone, so I decided to go knock of my neighboursâ doors and engage in conversation. I lucked out big time, I know people say they have the best floor of all time, but no, I’m sorry, my floor is SUPERCALAFRAGALISTICEXBEALIDOSIOUS! We all get along swimmingly and bonded almost instantaneously!
The coolest encounter I had was defiantly with my next door neighbor, Braelyn. If Disney created a real life princess who was just overall a nice human being with a phenomenal singing voice – it would be her. When we first met I was playing music in my room as I was cleaning, and, not to be “that guy who plays music too loudâ, I chose to just knock and ask if I was being too loud. When she opened the door I heard her playing the EXACT same song I was! How weird and amazingly ironic is that?!
My RA and AL are also super cool, extremely fun and outgoing people. Once I met everyone my worries faded away and I knew I was in good hands.
I got to be a spirit leader at O-Week this year (alongside my new friend Melissa) and what an amazing time it was! When we went to events we would cheer on the crowd, help keep the energy going, and overall just made sure we all had fun as a floor. It is definitely something I’d recommend all new students for the future to try out for!
MONDAY
After the exciting first day, I was hoping the days to follow would continue to surpass my expectations, and they truly did. The âWater Olympicsâ occurred on this day, and boy, did Pit 6 go all out for it!
First things first: we all decided to deck out our outfits before the games with some paint. We didn’t end up winning but we sure had a lot of fun and we won a few events (especially when it came to cheer-offs, and in my opinion I think that’s where it really counts, haha).
Later that night I attended Stars Beneath City Lights with the rest of my floor. It was such a lively event. I for one love a good dance party, especially one that is held outdoors. The Residence Council at Ryerson is extremely top notch and deserve a standing ovation for their great work planning events.
TUESDAY
On Tuesday I attended my first RTA (Radio Television Arts) Orientation event. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m in Media Production and based off the first couple of days I can already see such genuine, creative, amusing and talented people in my program.
My group got to explore the Mozilla building and learn about the company’s innovations and history. Afterwards we got to go to my first ever Jays Game! In all honesty, it was an absolute delight and the hype in the stadium really made me engage as an audience member. Iâve only been to a few baseball games in my life, but I have to say that this one definitely was out of the park đ
When I arrived back home, my floormates were having a grilled cheese sandwich party and invited the entire floor over. Of course, I never turn down an offer for free food.
Later that night, me and my POD of roommates went to play capture the flag throughout residence and it was a grand old time! Overall, Tuesday was a really interesting day, filled with a lot of new adventures.
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was a VERY busy day. I started off with heading to my RTA Academic Orientation. From the first moment, I knew I had chosen the right school. It was honestly one of the most inspiring presentations I’ve ever attended. The professors all seem extremely down-to-Earth and knowledgeable about the field. The program offers so much diversity ensuring that at the end of my four years I can take my degree and work in a variety of fields relating to media. I am really excited to start classes!
After that was over and done with, I headed over to Kerr Quad to complete the Ryerson World Record. There I met Sunita: a fellow Road to Ryerson blogger. With her, as well as a bunch of my other friends, we paddle-balled our way to the world record! I donât know about you, but I for one find it pretty cool that as a school we were able to break a world record â just in the first week alone!
Later that night, Kerr Quad transformed itself into a party central for the Fiesta Del Fuego event. It was an adventurous time where I was able to complete something crazy that I had never done before – CROWD SURFFING!!! I can now scratch that off my bucket list!
THURSDAY
Thursday morning I recharged my batteries in order to prepare for the afternoon, when I met up with a few of the Road to Ryerson bloggers. We all offer such distinct perspectives, but all mesh so well together! Sadly, there has yet to be a time where all five of us are free to meet up at once, but I believe that if there is a will there is a way!
Afterwards, I started cleaning my room and allowing myself to get completely settled in. I made very little progress, but baby steps, am I right? Eventually, I made my way down to the RiOT! comedy show with a few friends. I kid you not when I say I legitimately peed my pants. The cast and crew had me roaring with laughter, it was definitely an event you didnât want to miss. To end the night off I headed out to the FCAD Jam at the Virgin Mobile Mod Club. This boy got his dancing shoes on and made some fantastic new friends. I have to say it was probably the highlight of my entire frosh experience.
FRIDAY
If you have never been to the Toronto Islands, I recommend you check it out. In my opinion, itâs nice to get away sometimes from the hustle and bustle of the city. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was wonderful, and it was just a perfect way to mellow out after an extremely jam-packed week.
My floormates and I decided to relive our childhood memories and take a ride through the swan pond in a giant swan boat, which was surprisingly very pleasant. Even though we are all 17+, it was quite delightful to just get to be a kid again, without a care in the world.
Next on the agenda was the Gala Dance. This was the night we got all fancy-shmancy. Letâs just say Pit 6 cleans up very well… scratch that, extremely well! It was cool to see everyone all dressed-up, dancing the night away, and just overall having a good time.
THE WEEKEND
With everything that has happened, I never had enough time to properly set up my electronics or to go grocery shopping, so a few floormates and I ventured through Toronto to get the basic necessities that university students need: food and internet. This weekend has been all about preparing for classes, getting fully moved-in and bonding some more with the people of Ryerson.
I canât go into enough detail about how happy I am to be here at Ryerson. Iâve made the right decision coming here for post-secondary education. I feel like the luckiest boy in the world living in Pitman 6 with the rest of my amazing floor and getting to attend school for the next four years with everyone in the Media Production program. Theyâre all such kind-hearted, outgoing, and adventurous people.
If I had to choose a word to describe O-Week, it would have to be âperfectâ. The movies donât even portray Orientation as well as they could. I canât think of another time in my life where everything has been so perfect and full of joy.
But this is of course how I feel before classes have started… now that the fun is over, letâs see how I deal with the work… but that will have to be next weekâs blog.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
See ya later!
Mikael M. Melo
[dropcap background=”yes” color=”#333333″ size=”40px”]Part 1: Who is Mikael?[/dropcap]
[dropcap background=”yes” color=”#333333″ size=”40px”]Part 2: Packing My Life in a Box[/dropcap]
[dropcap background=”yes” color=”#333333″ size=”40px”]Part 5: First Week & Last Blog[/dropcap]
See what the other #RoadToRyerson folks are up to!
[show-team category=’road-to-ryerson-2′ layout=’hover’ style=’img-rounded,text-center,6-columns’ display=’photo,freehtml,name’]
