A Message from Louis

A Message from Louis 1

The horrible thing about first days is that if you’re a new student in a certain institution then you are going to be alone and miserable and awkward.

Which is exactly what I’m experiencing right now.

The university I applied for is based on a mountain. Not technically a mountain, but more of a series of mountains.  There are various buildings for the different programs the university offers. Based from the school tour we had back when I was a high school senior, the arts school was at the highest point.

This means that if I had classes in that building, I would either hike up the mountain, or spend money on the university shuttle. I don’t know with you, but I would rather shell out some cash than walk uphill under the sweltering heat. It doesn’t help that the weather is always humid.

Anyway, when I enrolled in the program and got my prospectus and stuff, the secretary gave me this sheet of paper that she scribbled something on. She told me that there was this freshmen orientation and that written on the paper was the place and time the orientation would be held.  “It’s a requirement,” she said.

Well, back to the first day, I still haven’t found the room for the orientation. I glance at the pink slip of paper and look at the writing. It’s nothing but a mix of letters and numbers to me. Gibberish. Like, okay, she gave me the room code but I have no idea how to ‘decode’ this so it’s just like she didn’t give me the room code at all. Ugh. I feel really dumb right now.

I’m just at the entrance gate because I’m sacred that if I go to some building or whatever I might get lost. And I don’t even have friends yet and it would be awkward to get lost somewhere without friends. Not that being lost with friends is a good thing, but yeah, it would definitely be less awkward and kind of fun and quite nice to know that you’re not the only one who’s lost.  I don’t want to pester the guards at the gates because they’re busy checking student IDs and there are a lot of people who are going in. No joke. I also don’t want to ask the people around me because of two reasons:

1.       I don’t want to look like a dork. I know I look like one, but I don’t want to give them the satisfaction that I actually proved to them that I am quite a dork. Though saying this makes me quite a dork but yeah, whatever.

2.       Most probably they have no idea how to decode the room code too so it would be quite useless and humiliating and it would be a very, very, very awkward conversation.

So no, I’m not going to risk my dignity in asking somebody for help. Nope. I’d rather miss the orientation than risk two awkward situations.

I sit on a bench near the entrance gate and grab my phone, pretending that I’m exchanging text messages with someone. Most of my classmates have their first days in college today too, and they’ve been sending various group messages. Most of them go something like this:

“Oh wow. I’m in college right now can’t believe it! A new chapter in my life! Booyah leggo do dizz!

#[insert college motto here]

#[insert high school motto here]”

Uh, no. Just no.

Since none of the group messages are really urgent or anything, I just pretend that I have someone to exchange texts with when in fact I’m just locking and unlocking my cellphone.

While I’m in the middle of casually moving my finger around my cellphone’s screen, I feel someone give me a heavy pat at the back. I look up and see a guy way taller than me. I can’t really see his face because he’s standing against the light. I squint my eyes and realize that the guy who just patted me was one of my high school classmates. Seth. Seth is practically one of the smartest people in my high school batch. We were classmates in our senior year in high school. I didn’t really talk to Seth often mostly because I felt that he wouldn’t talk to anybody who wasn’t a part of the honor roll. I almost always felt dumb whenever I was with Seth.