Grove City College - an insider's view

Grove City college (in the eight days that I have been here) seems to be a great place to get an education. The professors are friendly, helpful, not cruel or sadistic (until final exam time, possibly), and even humerous at times. The students are all courteous and outgoing for the most part, and the high trust that the students have in each other can be seen by the fact that most of the times, doors in my dorm are left unlocked or even open. Laptops are left in the lobbies of the dining halls, and retrieved half an hour later after the meal without turning up missing. There are some parts that are not neccesarily bad, but are not those attributes that I particularly enjoy, either. One of these would be the heavy encouragement by students, student leaders, RA's (Upperclass Resident Assistants), and even faculty for students to have a girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other. Another is the frequent mention of this school as a ''School of Marriages." Needless to say, these emphasis on intimate personal relationships makes it difficult to make the aquaintance (of girls in my case) while keeping myself and those I meet free from these expectations. Possibly (Probably) this is a situation that is found everywhere, but it still rubs on me and adds too much thought to simple interation with other people. (It probably dosn't help that I havn't been around ~300 girls of my age at the same time in my life)(as well as my dismal social skills among mass numbers of people that I don't know)(or those I DO know for that matter)(as well as my difficulty with getting to know people without being forced to interact and work together for various goals/projects) As a result of this challenge, I can probably match names to faces of around 2 girls on campus (and the second one I am not sure as to the name)
School is enjoyable, though. In chemistry lectures we light magnesium on fire, create fireworks out of rust and aluminum powder (and on wednesday we get to see explosions resulting from chemical reactions. Cool Stuff!!). Homework has not been horrendous (yet), and I may even have time to do some activities on campus (other then classes, homework, and studying) for an hour every couple of weeks. The food isn't bad, and in fact, I find it good in many cases. Its not homemade, but after eating at Boy Scout mess halls, campouts, and trips for 7 years, this stuff is excellent. There are times when the food is unappetizing, but there is always the All-You-Can-Eat Chinese place just down the road...

The first week of school is OB (Orientation Board) week. It began when we pulled the car to the curb last friday and a group of enthusiastic guys and gals grabbed my 7 pieces of luggage (each about 50lb) and hauled them up to my room on the Third floor of Ketler Dormitory, east gable. After collapsing under the weight of their loads at the top of the stairs, they staggered and slid the luggage into the room before going back down the stairs to help the rest of the freshmen move in. (note to self: did I really need all of the stuff that I brought?)

There are a lot of campus organizations - I signed up for the ski and snowboard club, for example. After skiing off cliffs on Mt. Rose and all of the other resorts around the Tahoe Basin, the 4400 ft PEAK at the most popular ski resort will probably seem kind of tame (I have been warned by several people), but hey, you take what you can get. There should be around 4 outings this year/semester (not sure which).

All of the guys in my residence hall are pretty cool. There are a lot of athletes (soccer, lacrosse, water polo, etc.) among them, as well as several other electrical and mechanical engineering students. (NOTE: the engineering program at Grove City is affectionately known as the pre-Business program - especially the electrical engineering)

More college life later - stay tuned - (and remember the disclaimer!!)