Week Zero: Welcome Weekend Skits and The Chipmunk

The title here really speaks it all. Well, not quite.

The reason this is Week Zero and not Week One is because I came back to Hartwick a week early because I was acting in the Welcome Weekend Skits that Alpha Psi Omega (APO), Phi Mu Alpha (PMA), and Cardboard Alley Players (CAP) perform for our first-year students (freshmen, transfers, etc). The skits talk about everything from what not to eat in the Commons to how to navigate Perrella Health Center, to the dangers that come with going parties. I remeber watching them my freshman year and they did have some influence on me. A lot of the behaviours they cautioned, like going out to frats aren't really my scene, but I have never eaten the cheese cutlet, which Salad effectively beats in a dance off.
What was really the great part of being in the skits was that I got to be included with the members of APO, of which I am a prospective member. They are generally the more senior theatre people, but also there are people there from my year. Its nice to feel a bit more "in" with the people I want to be friends with. It makes a nice segue that several of the people there live at Pine Lake.

In addition to this being my first week on campus, this was also my first week living at Pine Lake, not counting Awakening (but I'm actually staying here and not living out of a suitcase so its a bit different). It has been incredibly amazing and just so fantastic. Each morning I wake up to birds and a beautiful mist around the lake. My room also has grape vines growing around it, so it really adds a nice feel--plus, in a few weeks I'll just be able to reach outside my window and have grapes!
There has only been one...drawback...here.

Thar she be.

If you know me personally, and not just online, you probably know that I live with a therapy pet, which is a hamster named Espresso. He is awesome. So, this teaches you that I like rodents. But its a bit different when you wake up to something that sounds like a bird but isn't a bird barking (note, I did not write chirping) at you from beneath your desk. I was at first horrified at the possibility that it was a bird. I do not care for birds in such close proximity to me. That was just the begenning. Allow me to regale you with my Facebook statuses:

August 28th

10:04AM
Waking up to birds chirping? Yeah, kind of nice.
Waking up to a bird in your room? Not so much. 

11:30AM
Update: the bird is actually a chipmunk. I never knew they made that noise.

August 29th 

10:26AM
Continuing the Chipmunk Saga. My lovely housemate found a bunch of fur and a ~TAIL~ on a sticky pad used for catching mice under our sink. A friend of mine informed me that chipmunks and similar rodents can drop the skin of their tails as a defense mechanism.
I'm horrified I'm going to wake up to a chipmunk with a bone tail barking at me tomorrow morning.
Absolutely.
Horrified.

August 30th 

2:19PM
THE CHIPMUNK IS BACK.

Luckily, upon its return, it seemed to have a tail. Unfortunately, this tells me that there were likely multiple critters.

NEXT WEEK

Next week will start classes on Tuesday. Until then, I have no reason at all to even leave Pine Lake. I'm looking forward to the semester for so many reason, but I know it will be the hardest one yet. In addition to taking the most credits I've ever taken and being in the mainstage ("Caucasian Chalk Circle"), I also need to get some really great grades to make myself have the GPA I need for APO. It should be eventful and I will try my best to give weekly updates here!