Last Week of Freedom

From everything that I've heard, once business school starts it's a complete whirlwind.  The first quarter especially is supposed to be very intense with classes, getting involved in school clubs, recruiting and networking, and just getting acclimated to the student life again. Us first-year students have been warned by everyone in the know to take care of all of our business before orientation starts because free time will be at a premium after that. I think I've used the past week pretty well, both to take care of essentials and to mix in social events to meet a lot of students before everyone is thrown together in orientation.  The way lengthier than I intended summary of the week's events:

Monday
Made my second trip to Target to buy a bunch more apartment things and do my first batch of grocery shopping.  Installed a shelf into my bathroom which I'll probably be charged for two years from now.  One of the UCLA guys from DC that I had met at some of the DC happy hours back in the spring just got into town so we all met up for a quick drink at O'Hara's, the closest bar to my apartment in Westwood.

Tuesday
Made my third trip to Target.  I actually repurchased a bathroom rug which I had returned the day before.  Bought some more imporant kitchen appliances like a toaster oven and coffee maker.  Afterwards I met up with Reich who was at happy hour with a couple of his law school buddies at a wine bar in Culver City, and then got some food in the area.  One the way home I stopped at someone's place who was advertising a cheap TV and printer on Craigslist, the two most important remaining items on my list.  After I had dragged the heavy tube tv back to my aparment  I realized that the spot where the coaxial cable should connect was missing.  I'm still waiting for my refund check in the mail.

Wednesday

Worst DMV picture ever?

I headed to the DMV to get a California license and get my car registered in the state (mostly because this would allow me to get in-state tuition next year), and somehow this turned into a full day event.  I purposely got into Santa Monica early (at 8:45, 15 mins before the DMV opened), but had trouble finding parking.  By the time I got in line I must have been behind 150 people.  It took over an hour and a half just to get inside and get a number.  I was told I had to move my car to get it "verified."  I picked up the car, waited in another line, had it verified, and then found some street parking a good 6 blocks away.  When I got back to the DMV I waited for my number to be called and when it was, I was told I had to get my car inspected.  I brought the car a few blocks away for a smog inspection.  Turns out the trip hadn't treated my car so well, so I failed inspection (check engine light was on, gas knob was damaged, and some other made up problems).  I went back to the DMV anyway because I still wanted my license.  I waited on lines some more so I could be told to wait on another line where I could get my picture taken.  Since the computers at the DMV had broken down earlier in the day the line was quite long.  It took another hour to get my picture taken, and then I had to follow that up by taking a written drivers test, which was surprisingly difficult.  I figured the only way this day could get any worse was if I failed the written test and then had to make a return trip to the DMV to do it all again, but fortunately I passed.  I returned to my apartment 7 hours after I left it, a couple hundred dollars poorer, and still with some car repairs necessary before I could get it registered.

The evening was more fun because it was Wednesday and Anderson always has a Wednesday night get together.  This one was located in Santa Monica (about 5 miles from Westwood), so a girl from my Pre-O trip and I decided it would be a good time to figure out the LA mass transportation system and take the bus.  We had to wait a bit for it to arrive, but it seemed like a fairly efficient system.  Besides the vomit in the seat next to us, and the homeless people on board, it was quite the lovely ride.  It was a pretty fun night out, I ran into most of the people from my Pre-O trip, a good chunk of the DC crowd, and met a bunch of new people (who's names I don't remember, of course).

Thursday
In the morning/early afternoon I took care of some laundry, apartment cleaning, and a trip to the gym (got some serious deja vu/weird feelings about being back in a campus gym).  Later in the day it was time for the first Section A happy hour.  The Anderson class is divided into 5 "sections," where everyone in your section has the same class schedule as you.  These are the people you will be seeing every day, all day, and working together with the most during core classes in the first quarter.  So to help meet people before orientation began, someone organized a happy hour just for our section, Section A.  Around 20-30 people came out (there are roughly 75 in the section) to some bar named Arsenal.  The happy hour was fine, and people seemed nice, but I was a driver and got my very first LA parking ticket during the event.  Didn't read the fine print on the parking sign.  Not cool.  Our apartment complex (Weyburn Terrace) happened to be having a party in the courtyard when we returned so I went to that for a bit, but it was pretty poorly organized.  Beer lines were long, and you had to fight to get any of the pizza they promised to provide. 

Friday
Day 2 of car related activities brought be back to the scene of where I failed my inspection.  I had them fix whatever they could.  They said it would take an hour, but after wandering the neighborhood and coming back after that amount of time they hadn't even looked at it yet.  I decided to hop on a bus and take it down to the beach and killed sometime there, reading some of my orientation homework packet while there.  Finally they finished up the work so I returned to the shop and picked up the car.  The cost was actually not as high as I thought it would be, but they said I'd have to return again before I could pass inspection b/c they had just reset my check engine light and it needed to be driven for a little while first.  Whatever.  I think its healthy not to go out drinking at least one night a week, so I took the evening off.

Saturday
Went to the gym in the morning and then later a UCLA student's home to watch the first UCLA football game of the year.  I was impressed by how large their apartment was, just a couple miles from Westwood.  They're splitting the apartment 3 ways so it was pretty affordable too.  Seems like it might be a regular hangout spot.  UCLA lost a tight one.  I pretended to be really into the game. 

Sunday
I signed up for "The Amazing LA Race" which is basically a local event based on the show of a similar name.  16 Anderson students showed up, which we broke into 3 teams, and there were maybe another 10-15 non-Anderson participants broken into another 3-4 teams.    We were initially given a clue which led us to the Chinese Theater in Hollywood, and then had to continually solve a series of puzzles to point us to our next destination and unlock our next set of clues.  The puzzles were surprisingly challenging, and since everyone was feeling pretty competitive we were running around a decent amount.  The game took place mostly in Hollywood, but we were also given two Metro tokens so we could go to Downtown LA and back.  I didn't know any of the other participants, so it was a good way of meeting people in a different setting, while seeing some sites in LA.  Our team rocked and we ended up winning the event, clocking in at around 3 hours.  At the final destination they had some free food and drinks for us, and also a free game of bowling at Lucky Strike, which a few of us stuck around for.  When I got back to Westwood I met one of the DC guys for a couple drinks at O'Haras, and then called it a night.

Monday
Hit up the gym, finally did my fantasy football research, and then tried again to get a cheap TV on Craigslist.  This TV was even bigger and more difficult to carry but at least it worked.  Somehow I was able to get it up all the stairs and into my room, and although its way too big for my tiny bedroom, I'm keeping it.  One of the girls in my section was having a Labor Day BBQ, so I went over to that.  It was a fairly small event, and I got back to the apartment with a few hours to take care of some final things (mostly just writing this blog) before starting up orientation tomorrow morning.