Tag Archives: unofficial orientation 2018

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Unofficial Orientation Series 2018: Student Groups

This is a repost of wilk‘s update of michelle‘s update of Maya‘s 2015 post, which was an update of alt‘s 2014 post, which was an update of Q‘s 2013 post, which was an update of Syed‘s 2012 post.

This is the annual student activities fair, where you can schmooze or, more likely, be schmoozed to your heart’s content.

This is part of our 2018 Unofficial Orientation Series. A quick reminder that you can check out the welcome post here and past years’ series here.

By the time classes start (aka today, happy first day of classes!), you’ll likely be successfully moved into your dorm, blissfully free from your parents, and finally finding the time to figure your shit out. Soon, you’ll realize that you have a little too much time on your hands — and you might want to fill that time with Organized Social Activities.

Thankfully for you, there are about 300 student groups at Wesleyan, so you have many, many options. Joining student groups is one of the best way to meet people outside of your dorm and in different class years. You could find best friends! Mentors! Something new about yourself! It’s all up to you.

As your Orientation Leaders, advisers, and basically everyone else including me will tell you — stick to the Rule of Seven. Each class you take, group you join, job you have, and any other thing you might do counts as one commitment, and you should try to have only seven full-time commitments per semester. With a standard four-course load, that leaves three spots for you to fill with whatever the hell else you want. That’s what this post is for.

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Unofficial Orientation 2018: What I Wish I Knew

You’ve spent the last month with us reading about what to pack, what to think about when choosing classes, and of course, following the journey of the interesting ways Wesleyan operates. I remember when I was a pre-frosh, stalking every Wesleying article I could get my mouse on, and trying to piece together what my first semester would look like. I was right on a few things, but I was definitely unprepared with a few, err, a lot of this.

Sdz started a post last year called “Things I Wish I Knew as a First Year,” which was featured after Unofficial Orientation, and we’ve decided to fully integrate it into the series. We’ve been in your shoes, and want to help you by telling you our very, very wise wisdom that we can embark on you.

The advice in this column was anonymously sent into Wesleying’s TipBox by many wonderful members of Wesleyan’s community. Take a deep breath, get off of Instagram, and take a minute to read it.

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Unofficial Orientation Series 2018: Middletown Eating

This is an updated repost of sophie’s repost of maya‘s repost. Please note: this is by no means an exhaustive list of eating options in Middletown, as this perfunctory Yelp search will show you. Feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments!

This is part of our 2018 Unofficial Orientation Series. A quick reminder that you can check out the welcome post here and past years’ series here.

Middletown has so many fantastic dining options that at first you might feel like this turtle: faced with an almost insurmountable mountain of deliciousness. Much like the above turtle, though, you’ve got to start somewhere. We’re here to give you a head start.

From coffee-shop casual to awkward-family-dinner upscale, there’s food in Middletown for every occasion. This is our guide to some of the best places to eat in town. Prices are on a $ to $$$ scale. Also worth noting is that a lot of Middletown restaurants accept Middletown Cash, so save up some of that laundry money for your dining excursions. Wesleyan also provides a nifty guide to restaurants in and around Middletown, if you need more guidance (though theirs doesn’t come with student feedback and that special Wesleying flair)! Read all of our food list after the jump!

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Unofficial Orientation Series 2018: Eating and Drinking at Wes

This post is an updated version of Sam’s update which was an updated version of wilk’s Eating and Drinking orientation article.

Eating and drinking is a necessity for all living beings, even during your hazy college days. While we all have to adjust our food standards from delicious home-cooked meals to university food, trust me, it could be worse. This year Wesleyan is ranked #7 in college food on Niche out of all the colleges in the U.S. so you know it’s going to be good. Wes has many options for dining that you can enjoy regardless of your dietary orientation. We’re even ranked #2 by One Green Planet for Most Vegan-Friendly Colleges. There’s a plethora of awesome vegan food and our friends at the Mongolian Grill are always willing to cook up a chicken tortilla topped with cheese if it’s protein that you want.

This is the part of the orientation series where we remind you to eat your veggies.

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Unofficial Orientation Series 2018: Middletown Outings

This is an update of wilk‘s update of his previous post!

Toto, we’re not in Bushwick anymore. You’ve now left the comfort of deep Brooklyn, as they call it, for the not-so-dissimilar milieu of Wesleyan. Just kidding, a vast majority of Weskids are from not-Brooklyn, not-LA, and not-Bay-Area, although it might seem otherwise.

For all of you from those (wonderful) places, and all of you from other places, Middletown is different than those places (shocking!). It was once the largest city in Connecticut, circa pre-war-of-1812. Can your hometown claim that title? Nah. Unless you’re from Middletown, in which case you are probably way more qualified than me to write this post.

While Wesleyan is fine and there is usually never a shortage of things to do on campus, Middletown and the surrounding area truly have some wonderful gems that are worth knowing about as you settle in and look for things to do other than vape on Foss.

And if you’re really bold and somehow have an abundance of time before finals arrive, there’s some cool shit beyond the local area too. Here’s the 2018 Outing guide, advice from a Connecticut local.

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Unofficial Orientation Series 2018: WesTech

This is fakeshark‘s update of wilk‘s update of michelle‘s update of kitab‘s update of alt‘s update of pyrotechnics‘ update of lesanjuan‘s update of Syed’s 2010 post.

Before we begin, here’s where you can find the welcome post (so that you can binge read from the beginning), and here’s where you can find last year’s edition of this post.

Hello, and welcome to the 8th annual edition of the Unofficial Orientation Series. In today’s episode, we’ll be discussing everything you need to know about the World Wide Web (and all things affiliated with it). Actually, we’ll be discussing everything you need to know about the Wes Wide Web. If you’ve reached this far, you’ve proved your competence in terms of navigating through some of Wesleyan’s digital landscape. But, my dear Prefrosh, there’s so much you have to learn. That’s where I come in – I’m going to teach you about the finer things in life, and all things in the WesTech multiverse.

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Unofficial Orientation Series 2018: Dorm Living FAQ

Holly and Xue wrote the first version of this post in 2006 and it has been reposted every year since then. Dorm Life never changes much. Unless Fauver becomes Bennett (wow this joke is old). [Or unless Clark goes on fire a few times]

Pictured: A bright-eyed young freshman shakes his groove thang, eager to impress his lofty peers. Taken by Rachel Pincus ’13.

This is part of our 2018 Unofficial Orientation Series. A quick reminder that you can check out the welcome post here and past years’ series here.

Dear frosh of 2022,

As you are probably fretting about your first day of college, a sense of melancholy (or jittery excitement and increased WesAdmits activity, if you hated high school) has creeped up on you. Are you making lists of toiletries and getting boxes from Staples to pack your life into? Wondering how much action your soon-to-be bed has gotten in the past? A lot, probably.

(Melisa’s note: Our cheery freshmen selves a wee [two years] ago ventured onto the wilderness of Waste Not, and my friends ended up purchasing a futon for very cheap. We ended up *probably* spending the same amount on febreeze that we ended up dousing said futon in. This is to say that even your futon isn’t safe from the wonders of college sexuality.)

But don’t be too frazzled. Before you finish your housing form, get your roommate(s) assignment, and make dorm Facebook groups that no one will check after October, Wesleying‘s here to answer your 40ish most pressing questions related to waking-up-and-instantly-having-200-or-so-of-your-peers-to-hang-out-with.

The pertinent FAQ doesn’t change much from year to year, so we tend to update/repost much of the original guide by Norse Goddess Holly-and-Xue ’08 (cuz it’s still damn good and we’re still damn lazy) every year. This re-vamped guide is up to date and full of Wesleyan lingo:

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Unofficial Orientation 2018: Social Media Directory

This is a repost of a repost Wilk’s updated repost of caro‘s aggregation station social media directory that Gabe originally made. If you want your!! social media up here, hit us up staff[at]wesleying[dot]org

Ya if you try to take a photo like this, pls just leave campus. there’s not a single nalgene in sight, and wtf is that plain-ass skateboard?

This is part of our 2018 Unofficial Orientation Series. A quick reminder that you can check out the welcome post here and past years’ series here.

At some point in your career at Wesleyan, The Argus just won’t come out soon enough or—heaven forbid—Wesleying won’t update quick enough for you to get some vital update or piece of news. Luckily for all of us, the fine people in charge of and around Wesleyan University are on top of this social media wagon, and sometimes, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds are your best shot for up-to-the-minute information. But even beyond the immediate, some of these pages and feeds, run by the departments or by student groups or even by anonymous individuals, can be interesting, thought-provoking, hilarious, and full of discussions, tips, commentary, and quips that will enrich your experience here. Or at the very least, give you a cheap laugh.

Here’s an updated collection of the essential (and currently active) social media accounts, as well as some of Wesleying’s personal favorites. This list isn’t complete, and new accounts are being created every year. Like, does Summies really need a parody Twitter? Chime in once again for things you think were passed over, because the official school-approved list (which doesn’t even include Wesleying) just won’t suffice. There are also individual Twitter feeds (both student and alumni) you’ll find useful to follow, but you’re on your own for discovering those. Nobody uses Pinterest, so don’t bother looking.

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Unofficial Orientation Series 2018: Health Resources on Campus

This is a repost from 2017, although ~health things~ have remained (basically) the same. This is an updated version of a post originally written by Catherine MacLean ’14 which appeared on the Peer Advisor Blog and on Wesleying. It also includes a section on resources for survivors of sexual assault by Ryden Nelson ’16 and Chloe Murtagh ’15 and a section on the new support groups run by WeSupport by Veronica Harrington ’17.

HealthFitness

This is part of our 2018 Unofficial Orientation Series. A quick reminder that you can check out the welcome post here and past years’ series here.

In your four years at Wes, you’ll probably need some kind of health support, whether physical, mental, or emotional, and luckily enough, there are quite a few options available. Here’s a crowdsourced rundown of many of the services available to help keep you healthy.

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Unofficial Orientation Series 2018: Athletics/Athlete Life

This is sdz‘s update of wilk‘s short update of D‘s mostly repost of previous athletics unofficial orientation series posts.

This is part of our 2018 Unofficial Orientation Series. A quick reminder that you can check out the welcome post here and past years’ series here.

Some of you frosh probably don’t know that WesTech competes in the prestigious NESCAC—the most competitive D3 conference in the country. Despite the throngs of news outlets that flock to many of our sports games, you will never have to enter a lottery system or wait in a line overnight to obtain tickets. We also aren’t like these fans, and we never will be. That’s okay. Do not believe the naysayers who claim that Wesleyan students do not support or appreciate athletics. Little known fact, Wesleyan Football holds a lifetime win record against Michigan. (never mind that our first and only meet was in 1883). I have personally witnessed Wes students get so fired up after a basketball loss to Trinity that we started a “safety school” chant. Not our best moment but definitely an example of caring!

Whether you’re attempting to relive your high school glory days, looking to get or stay fit (the freshman fifteen is real), or trying out a new sport, Wesleyan has what you are looking for!

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