As an international student I had move in a week before the start of classes in order to be part of the international orientation program. This orientation only lasted a couple of days, but it was a really fun experience because I was able to meet many other international students who had the same questions as I did and we were able to get to know the campus before most of the other first-years. Also, my international orientation advisor turned out to be a sophomore from my country and I found it really helpful to get to know him right from the start because it made me feel like I already had something in common with him. This allowed me to express my concerns and to do so in Spanish as well hahaha.
After the international orientation ended we joined the American students for regular orientation. In my group there were about 20 people and we had two orientation advisors who are sophomores. Even though many times I didn’t feel like going to the activities, in general it was a good experience because it allowed me to meet even more people than during the international orientation. Also, all the guys who were in my group live in the same floor as I do so this created even a stronger friendship between us. Furthermore, during orientation we were able to talk about things in life that happen every day and also about things that worried us as we were entering this new life as a college student. My orientation advisors did a great job at answering every question that we had by telling us their own personal experiences and I found this really valuable.
On the Friday before classes began we had a special event called Vegas Night. I have always enjoyed playing games like poker, blackjack, roulette and craps so I was really looking forward to this. In Peru the legal age to enter a casino is 18 so I enjoyed going to quite a few of those before coming here, but in the U.S. the legal age is 21 so I still have to wait a little more than two years. This is the main reason why I was waiting for Friday night.
When Friday finally arrived we went with our advisors to buy some clothes at a store near campus. We all had to dress fancy in order to go with the whole Vegas theme. I bought some pretty funny clothes and then came back to my dorm to get ready. When we finally go to the commons we each received a ticket for $3,000 in chips. I immediately went to the poker table and joined a cash game that was going on. I realized that the game was going nowhere because most of the guys were just going all-in because they knew it was fake money so after a couple of hands the table was closed and I decided to go play craps. The night was almost ending so I didn’t have a lot of time, but I managed to walk out of the table with about $25,000 in chips.
Even though it was all made believe and I didn’t get anything in exchange for those chips, I still had a pretty good time and it was fun to be able to play some of the games that I have always enjoyed.
Just in case you don’t recognize me, I’m the guy with the REALLY cool hat and the sunglasses!
