Having installed Jayne Mansfield in a place of prominence in our dorm room (after the addition of lab goggles to make her appear more intelligent) my roommates and I are beginning to settle in to this week of orientation. We know where to meet our RAs, we know which superhighway sidewalks will take us where, and we know when not to expect a quiet morning (i.e. when the garbage truck empties the two HUGE dumpsters beneath our windows).
And now, a brief (hahaha don't kid yourself) summary of what I got up to last week.

Arrival at Princeton
After navigating the treacherous Pennsylvania Turnpike, Mom, Dad, and I rolled into Princeton with Steak and Shake in our bellies and (strained, strained) smiles on our faces. I checked in at Baker Rink and was given my ID card (or, prox, as they call it here, mostly, I imagine, because it becomes a sort of surrogate self) and told by a friendly staff member I will probably never see again, "Welcome to Princeton!" This, of course, made Dad tear up a bit, and we steered him out of there to move the car to the entrance of my dorm, henceforth called SubFree (because it's substance free. duh.) We scurried up the stairs and were met by CC, one of my roommates, who was doing Outdoor Action, where they hike around, don't take showers, and bond with each other while peeing in the woods. She seemed to be really nice and was unloading her things into the bottom bunk of what seemed to be the smallest double in existence. I scooted on over to the triple where SoccerRoomie had already taken a bed. It's really spacious and has a direct route to the hallway bathroom, so I definitely made the right choice.
After unloading all my things into various drawers (the nature of which I forgot within the week and had to reacquaint myself) the parents and I went to their hotel, showered, and drove up to Manhattan to see the one, the only, SPAMALOT!!!!!! 'Twas great fun and for once the second act was better than the first, which I think was a stroke of genius. Favorite quotes included:

Sir Lancelot: [talking about gay marriage] Just think Herbert. In a thousand years time this will still be controversial.

Arthur: God be praised. We have a quest: to find the grail!
Sir Robin: The quail!
Arthur: No, the grail. The vessel used at the last supper.
Sir Robin: They had a boat at the last supper? Was it a sort of dinner cruise?
Sir Galahad: The grail is a cup.
Sir Robin: God the almighty and all-knowing has misplaced a cup?

Arthur: I'm all alone.
Patsy: He's all alone.
Arthur: All by myself.
Patsy: Except for me.

Yes. The brilliance.

Day One in Gangland
We got up and readied ourselves for the day at a leisurely pace. Having taken my last bath for the next two months, we headed to breakfast at Panera and a general panicking by me. What happened in the next few hours (was it hours, or just half and hour? Who can say.) is very hazy to, mostly because all I did in that time was wring my hands and watch my dad hook up my printer. We then proceeded to Canon Green where I met my group for the next week. I said a quick goodbye to Mom and Dad, so that they would remain dry. They were all really friendly, and one of the four leaders (the one from Wisconsin) looked eerily like me. We played some bonding games and then went on a scavenger hunt. TexasGirl and I failed to find the monkey with the camera (apparently on 1879 Arch) and resorted to the internet, but we still finished before everyone else.
After everyone finished and ate a dinner from Hoagie Haven (not actual hoagies, thank god)
we piled into vans where I experienced Ride #1 with LeaderWhoCannotDrive. We arrived safely in Trenton at the church we would be living and working at, played a quick round of Mafia, and got to bed at twelve thirty. This was to be my earliest bedtime all week long.

to be continued.....

Meanwhile, today I met for the first time with my academic adviser who is a French professor and the director of the French-language acting troupe. He seems really friendly and...well, French. Tomorrow I will sign up with him for classes. I found out that I can only take one class in each department per semester, so I'll need to do some rethinking.
Earlier today was HSClassmate's birthday, so we went and ate lunch at the Bent Spoon (excellent ice cream!) and rang in her 19th year.