Then came the time when I had to pick out a college.
My uncle is a UCD grad, and my aunt is a Sac State one. I applied to both schools - UCD was my first choice, CSUS was my reserve one- this of course prompted some, uh, discussion between the two of them whenever I was at their house in between college tours. I remember my aunt's graduation from Sac State as being the longest graduation I've ever been to in my life. Hours of sitting on bleachers, getting sunburned, and trying to keep my cousins out of trouble by emptying the contents of my purse as an endless line of people got their diplomas.
My next visit to the campus was worse.
My mother had signed me up for Sac State's early admission program- you get admitted, sleep in the dorm, and take tours the next day. I don't remember being told that I was going to DO this until right before it happened- my mother had to pack a bag for me while I was at school. I went from school to home to get the bag and then we had to leave so I'd get there before admissions ended. I opened the bag to see what she'd packed and it broke while I was trying to close it. We had to quickly find another bag- unfortunately the bag my mom dug up was this one that looked like a bowling bag. I grabbed the clothes from one bag and shoved them into the other, grabbed my pillow, and raced out the door.
When we got there, we entered the dorm, only to be told that we had to go to another building IMMEDIATELY to be admitted. A guy stared at my application for five minutes and then admitted me. I thought, "Three years of school = five minutes to get into college?" After that I entered my dorm room. I opened the door and promptly got an attack of claustrophobia that had yet to be rivaled until I opened the door of my room last year. Then when I unpacked, I discovered that I had forgotten to clean out the side pockets of the bag- I had left my toothbrush, hairbrush, alarm clock, etc. at home.
The orientation consisted of handing out Sac State merchandise (my parents won "Sac State Mom" and "Sac State Dad" keychains. You can imagine that they hold a high place of honor at my house) and silly icebreakers. Then the students were sent on a scavenger hunt through the dorms. I was grouped with two girls who were so obsessed with Saturday Night Live that they would re-enact the cheerleader skits at any given moment. We made the mistake of trying to locate items on the foreign exchange student floor- and let me tell you there is no experience like trying to explain the concept of a scavenger hunt to someone who doesn't know much English yet. We were the last group to come back. However, one girl decided an hour or so later that she wanted to try smoking (being away from home for the first time and all), and we went back to the exchange floor again. "Hi, we're still on the scavenger hunt . . . "
The next morning I was waiting for my parents to come and take my stuff so I could go to my meetings . . . they did not show up. One lady told me to go to her office and leave my stuff there. Unfortunately her office was in the middle of campus and I got hopelessly lost. I also looked idiotic carrying my bowling bag and pillow. I couldn't even find the theater I was supposed to go to. I was very embarrassed when my mother finally found me and yelled, "How could you get lost? It's right across the street!" I spent the rest of the day whining "Can I go home now?" and "If I don't get into Davis I'm gonna die."
I have to have a reason for my hatred, and that's mine for Sac State.