Big fish in a big pond

So after writing my last post (which may be one of my favorites, I've decided), I went out for what was supposed to be a little stroll so I could stretch my legs and enjoy the beautiful day outside (about 20º cooler than my move-in day, which if you'll recall was TEN YEARS AGO wah). Campus was abuzz with activity but at the same time seemed very quiet, probably because all the bumpin is really going on on the residential side. Sure enough as I got down towards the res halls I could hear the bass, smell the grills, and spot the pole sit, but instead of heading right into the belly of the beast I chickened out (probably because I didn't want to feel out of place, what with how OLD I am) and veered off the quarter mile down past the field house, and started heading back towards CIS. 

Turns out this detour was rather serendipitous - as I passed the ice rink I looked ahead and thought I recognized one of our incoming students with his mom. Sure enough, they had already spotted me (go figure, I mean, pink hair is so hard to spot from long distances) and were waving. HOW, out of the THOUSANDS of freshmen and their family on campus today, do I happen to run into one of our 15 freshmen? It turns out they had actually been looking for me, and were disappointed to find I was out of my office - and then just so happened to take the same walkway (not the main one) as I, so it ended up working out perfectly. 

We chatted excitedly for a bit, and then before you know it, along came ANOTHER parent of one of our freshmen - so he joined the conversation. And then ANOTHER freshman showed up - and then HIS mom appeared and joined. As if this didn't seem to be beating the odds enough, to top it all off along came another seemingly random guy, who as it turned out was actually the parent of the roommate of the first freshman I bumped into, and had already heard all about the pink haired girl. And this all happened during my random 2:15PM stroll off the beaten path...Again, I ask, how? It just goes to show how huge and how tiny RIT can be all at the same time. Pretty awesome.

Photographic evidence of the random rendezvous outside Ritter.

Anyways, we all had a great chat about RIT, Rochester, Charlotte and the LDR Char Pit, and local cuisine, as well as how excited the freshmen are to be here and how much they love it already. (I also remember parts of the conversation that included, "We really didn't want to like RIT, but then we came here and we knew it was the one!" - quote of the day right there. Oh, and it also included a few "Thank you"s, for the record.) The air is ripe will all kinds of excitement and anticipation for the new school year, and I can't help but be really excited for all of our incoming and returning students. Even if they do make me feel old.