Orientation 2003
Hello and welcome once again
to Oxy!
International Orientation begins on Aug. 19 - Aug. 22nd, 2003.
The Orientation Team is very excited to meet everyone!
The 2003
Orientation team is:
Deja Ostrowski
Nikolay Filchev
Reni Paunova
Sam Phang
Dorothy Zhuomei
Piul Rabbani
To view more information of the team members check out
Oxy's Intl Programs page.
We plan to post pictures taken during orientation, quotes, comments,
stories...anything that happens, will be shared here for all to see! So please
check up here soon!
Pre - Orientation 18/08/2003
Last day of preparation. Orientation team is working at full speed preparing for
the arrival of the new students.
Day 1 19/08/2003:
Weather: A Hot summer day with clear blue skies!
The new International Students arrived at various times during the day - from
9am till 11pm. The first Int'l student to arrive was Flore Dayot - Oxy's new
French T.A. The Orientation members were busy xeroxing documents, carrying
luggage, giving campus tours and getting to know all the new students.
Once arriving on campus many students went to their rooms to unpack and relax.
Lunch was served in Chilcott Lobby where they had some Thai cuisine. The new
students enjoyed their BBQ dinner meal served in Patio Branca where they met the
Oxy Orientation team of 2003. In the evening there was a DVD session in Newcomb
Lobby where some watched the movie Oceans Eleven. After the movie most students
returned to their rooms to get a good nights rest in preparation for Day 2!
Day 2 20/08/2003
Weather: Sunny summer morning. Clear blue skies
Information sessions begin! In the morning Momoko Kusayanagi & San Lin Tan
arrived. The day began with breakfast in Morrison Lounge, where various
practical sessions were held. The Orientation team provided information like
Safety, Transportation, phone numbers etc... The students who hadn't received
their ID cards took their pictures and in a few miniutes walked out of Campus
Dining showing (some were hiding) their ID pictures.Lunch was in Oxy's main food
court - The Marketplace - where students had a choice of pasta, salads,
stir-fry, strogonoff or any grill items. After lunch there was another session
on Visas and right after that a nice Ice Cream break to cool down from the hot
LA summer! Dinner was held at Robin Craggs home (a short walk from campus) where
they enjoyed Zenko's Chicken. After dinner they went to Target - the college
students 'mall' where they bought pillows, sheets, trash cans.... While shopping
many enjoyed seeing Target's trolley escalator. At the end of the shopping spree
some saw that May Carolan had a liking for the color purple! :-)
Day 3 21/08/2003
Weather: Warm, with a few clouds in the sky.
Breakfast at the Marketplace. Morning sessions were separated today - Exchange
students had one and Frosh in another. Both of the two groups had academic
advising from IPO staff. A tour in Coons was given to all the students
afterwards. CDC (Career Development Center) and Emmons also gave the whole
group brief welcome and introductions. Everybody had a nice lunch at the market
place. In the afternoon, we had a section of Arts of Cross Culture in Morrison
Lounge. The section was carried out in a very friendly environment. We
disccused culture difference between various countries and O-team members talked
about their experience of culture shock-which was not something very "shocking",
but the awareness of culture difference. In addition to that, we talked about
adjustment to culture shock or just the physical and psychological stress
everybody would have when facing the change of the living environment. We
finished up around 3:30, and had a break till 5. And we left for Autry Museum
of Western Heritage.
Day 4 22/08/2003
Weather: Warm and sunny
Last day of Int'l Orientation *sniff sniff*
People met in the marketplace for breakfast, later on some went to various banks
in the area to open accounts. There where some more sessions and then lunch in
the marketplace. After Lunch there was a swim break. Some students went to the
pool and hung out there. There were two more information sessions before the
group left to go walking down Eagle Rock Blvd. They went till teh Farmers Market
- an open air market where people sell fresh food and you can try different
snacks from different parts of the world. After dinner in the Farmer's Market we
all went in the Begal Buses to go to Old Town Pasadena. Spent the rest of the
evening having Boba or Frozen Yogurt from 21 Choices or just walking around
Colorado seeing the various stores there