<p>The orientation looks really, really dumb when you get there. I’m not gonna lie. My first reaction was “what the hell is this, summer camp?” </p>
<p>But I promise you if you take part in every activity - even the ones that look crappy - you will find yourself having a really awesome time. It’s cheesy. Everyone KNOWS it’s cheesy. But it’s really the best way to break the ice. I met some great kids at Playfair, two of which are coming to visit me this summer, even though we barely talked at the actual event. House Wars is what everyone gets pumped for and it’s totally worth it (Mudge has won the last two years and we intend to cement a third year this year. Just sayin’.) </p>
<p>It’s cool to be sitting in a lecture where you don’t know a single person and have someone tap you on the shoulder and say, “Hey, Kate, right? We met at House Wars…”</p>
<p>hahaha, yeah i went through the rounds on the block, and I agree it was pretty bad :P. Basically it came down to getting whatever food was available and then finding people / rooms to go to.</p>
<p>something athletic sounds reasonable, but you gotta be careful with the nerdy stuff. The DOTA dating event i tried to set up in morewood? Epic fail, lol</p>
<p>Kate, instead of something like Quidditch you could always have games like flag football, kickball, dodgeball, or other games you got to play in gym class that were actually fun.</p>
<p>It’s a Mudge event, so it has to be at Mudge, and our courtyard green is pretty small - about 40 ft long and 30 ft wide I’d say. So a big game like tag football or ultimate frisbee would not be possible ): but dodgeball might be. Only problem is that there’ll be food there too so we’d have to separate the two events (flying balls plus filled drink cups equals bad.) Nationball, dodgeball or kickball might be the best way to go.</p>
<p>@bco: DotA dating, lmao. I would have taken part in that for kicks. * hi ladies i play juggernaut, i’m primarily a melee sentinel class. can i buy you a drank?*</p>
<p>I’m going to regret this…yes, coming from a 54 year old mom…</p>
<p>It’s so freakin’ hot in Pitt in August…</p>
<p>Why not a giant slip and slide in the Mudge courtyard – with water, bubbles (spray some liquid dish washing detergent on it) …
You don’t even need to buy a slip and slide…go to Lowes / Home Depot and get a large contractor roll of 9 mm plastic …spread it…hose it down…wham…so much fun</p>
<p>Our high school seniors did this 2 weeks ago at their senior picnic…no one was hurt and it was awesome…</p>
<p>Remove rocks, twigs under the plastic…avoid unnecessary poking in “sensitive” spots…</p>
<p>You want something athletic…this is it!!
Please post pictures…</p>
<p>The event takes place at night, so it won’t be as hot outside. We also already asked about this one for a later orientation event and the housefellow said no - too dangerous, kids have apparently been injured on slip-n-slides before. I mean, I kind of wonder how stupid you have to be to hurt yourself off a bit of plastic with water on it, but… that’s the rule.</p>
<p>I know it’s not appropriate for orientation, but playing kickball with the requirement of a beer in hand at all times makes for some pretty great games. ;)</p>
<p>Also, slip and slides can be pretty dangerous. I don’t remember going on those one time when I was a little kid where at least one person didn’t lose a tooth or have some sort of pretty bad scrape/bruise.</p>
<p>Another game that’s pretty easy to set up is volleyball, though that’s probably a bit more athletic than kickball or dodgeball.</p>
<p>I remember ping pong being crazy popular in Donner during my orientation, so you could always try to bring some tables out for that.</p>
<p>I’m sure we could borrow some ping pong tables from stever since they’d likely be moving the main lounge ones out anyways, but then the problem is that with 4 ping pong tables you’re engaging 8 people at best, 16 if they’re playing doubles. We’ll have like 400+ people passing through, so a big team sport like dodgeball might be easier to manage.</p>
<p>The drink-in-hand dodgeball was awesome during the Snowmageddon. We also did the same thing with a sled - ride down Flagstaff hill without splashing on yourself :P</p>
<p>There will be plenty of slip and slides either on the quad or at the fence. Since mudge is purple themed anyways, maybe you could do something black light themed… give people white t’s and a highlighter, and then do indoor speed dating under the black lights and if people are into each other they can exchange info on their shirts (or you give them things to write on each other)</p>
<p>but maybe that idea is too frat boy influenced haha</p>
<p>I fear that dodgeball may result in someone being “accidentally” pegged in the head. This would make dodgeball an excellent icebreaker for making enemies instead of friends. Hypothetically speaking of course.</p>
<p>I’m sorry-- but I cannot resist this thread…</p>
<p>Aren’t “nerds” the ones that are always hurt or the target of malicious jocks when dodgeball is played in PE…hence it’s been banned in many schools??? ROFL</p>
<p>Those large blow-up multi-colored beachballs are a ton of fun-- how bout some beach theme…beach volleyball, beachball (safe) dodgeball, etc…beach/hawaiian shirts, pina-coladas/daquaris, cotton candy machine, … BBQ pit/french fries…??? 200 people playing Musical “chairs” on beach towels?</p>
<p>I actually REALLY like the blacklight idea, bco. Maybe minus the speed dating since… from my experience most people just took food and then paired off to hook up for the first night. But it would be great for people to get to know each other and have a way to write it down - like a blacklight signature shirt or something so everyone can remember the kids they met on their first night at college. I don’t think that’s too fratty at all. </p>
<p>(Side note: Fun times watching my roommate stick her tongue down some guy’s throat after having met her only ten hours prior. It was impossible for me to smoothly leave at that point though… the first night is like hormone frenzy extravaganza.)</p>
<p>No. It’s “mostly” free - they give you a stipend that equates to about 85% of room charge. They do not pay for your meal plan whatsoever. The RA plan at CMU is actually really crappy.</p>
<p>A standard double is something like $6200, and RA compensation is about $5800.</p>
I don’t think that’s too fratty at all. </p>