The orientation at Hotchkiss didn't help much; my orientation group leaders were too busy explaining good places to make out with PG guys in my group. However, I did have make some friends within the group: Olivier from Canada, who is also a new Upper Mid and speaks fluent English with a cute French accent. The only thing I enjoyed during those two days of orientation was the contra dance. It was held in the athletic center, and almost all of the students went. It was basically a country dance party, with a local music band playing country music, and one of the players instructing us about the dance moves. People had to keep dancing and switching partners, so that they could meet more new people. I met so many other people from the school, and had been partner with Olivier for a very long time; we ended up being really good friends, and played table tennis half an hour ago. 

   I also like my dorm's feeds. Feeds are usually held after ten, when the study hall is over. Each of the students on my floor has a bowl and a spoon, and our dorm parents and proctors will give us ice-cream or cookies to eat. I don't really know many people, so for most of the time I'm listening to others talk, but it's nevertheless a good way to bond with my dorm-mates. 

   I couldn't wait for school to start, because it is easier to meet new people and make friends when classes begin; but I didn't even got my schedule fifteen minutes before my first class starts. I had spent two days during the orientation period to prepare for a Calculus AB test so that I could place out of Calculus BC and go to a higher level course. My advisor told me that once I was placed into math 561, it would open up much more options. Since physics C conflicts with the languages courses I want to take, it didn't help much getting (schedule-wise) to be placed into Further Maths. But I'm glad I did take the test, because I have learned most of the material in Calc BC. The problem is that I don't have my math textbook because of the change of course. 

   The first day I had English, Physics, US History, and Art history. English was taught by an amazing teacher, Mr. Gardner, and he told us to play games for us to know each other better. I was in the same class as Pablo and Stan, two other new Upper Mids, so that I didn't feel as new as I did in US history and art history, where I was the only new student. The first English class we didn't really do anything, except for telling each other something about ourselves, and what we could contribute to the class. Since our class had students from four different countries, it would be nice to have more fresh perspectives during our discussions. I can't wait for tomorrow's English class to start, during which we would do an in-class writing on the A Temporary Matter, the first story of the mandatory summer reading, Interpreter of Maladies. 

   Physics was fun, too, especially when I had already learned pretty much everything that the Mr. Fenton had told us in class. He started the class without introducing himself or the course, so it was a little bit funny. Although it's an AP course, I think it will be one of the courses that could actually release some pressure and give me some free time to do other things. 

   I was the only new student in my AP US history class. We started the class with discussing the cover picture of an old American History textbook. I never payed so much attention to a book cover, but from that picture we actually learned something about history, and how to interpret American history. We were asked to do a summary on an 13-page long article that the teacher handed out at the end of the class; I just finished it this morning, and was nervous about it. I was afraid that I might have done the wrong citation or unclear arguments, but I'll see how it goes. 

   Art history was taught by Dr. Drake, a very interesting old woman. She started the class with a video clip from Vogue, about an Alexander McQueen show. We were then asked to write about two paintings, both by Motherwell (we were told afterwards), and they were both contemporary arts which you had no idea what the artists were trying to express. It felt really similar to the writing course I took last year at Harvard, and I really enjoy it. 

   I didn't get to take Math until Saturday, and my teacher was really funny too. It turned out that the course was the right level for me, because although I had learned something, there was material that hadn't been covered back in China. 

   So it turned out that all of the five courses I'm taking right now are awesome; the only imperfection is that I don't get to take any language course, so I have to take modern dance, which is fine by me. 

   Yesterday at the activity night I signed up for drama, math, Habitat for Humanity, and debate. I also signed up for the auditioning for Bat Boy, a musical. I've never tried drama so I would love to go up on stage and embarrass myself. Another thing I've never tried is cross country, which is basically long-distance running. For the first day of practice I've run two miles, about eight 400-meter laps. I've never run anything as long as that before, and I felt so sour at the second day that I didn't want to go to practice at all. But as long as I'm in the game, I have to keep going. Cross country will make my college application look better, but it's also really will-building. 

   This morning I finished my physics and history homework, and went to Millerton to shop for some supplies. 

   So far so good.