Day Two - Housing Meeting

Just like check-in and casting, you have an assigned housing meeting. Mine was at 1pm, so I had time to sleep in before catching the bus. My advice on this is to either get there 20-25 minutes early, or a couple minutes early. If you get there around 15 minutes early you will be stuck waiting in the hot sun, sweating. If you're there early you get shade, and if you come right around your time, you don't have to wait long to get in. It really doesn't matter how close to the front you are. They try really hard to make housing interesting, but basically it's all rules. Definitely important info, but boring nonetheless. I'll sum up the important stuff in a short list:

• No weapons, fake weapons, pocket knives, or light sabers. Only pepper spray allowed.
• No smoking in the apartments, though on the property and on the porches is allowed. No electronic cigarettes, or drugs of any other sort, including hookah.
• No drinking under the age of 21. Period. No holding someone's wine glass, or tasting anything. You are allowed to be in a non-wellness apartment visiting, and they're allowed to drink while you're there.
• People over 21 are not allowed to drink in an under 21 apartment. 
• If you give your apartment key to someone, you'll face termination.
• No guests in the apartments past 1am, and all guests must sign in.
• No guest CPers allowed in other apartments other than their own past 2am. They also must check in.
• Security is 24/7 and you can call them about anything.
• The only thing allowed on walls aside from the bulletin board already there is command strips.
• Don't hang things from the sprinklers and alarms.
• Inspections can be random or known ahead of time, and there's an extensive list on what's expected.

So that's about it, there's more, but I don't remember all of it. I just know that I have to send my pocket knife home. After the meeting you have 48 hours to get rid of your banned items. Overall the process was about 2 hours, but it all depends on how many questions people have. A lot of people in my group had questions about alcohol and drugs, so that took up about half an hour. also our PowerPoint shutdown so that took more time. Not the most exciting, but what're you gonna do.

On a non-related side note, prepare for grocery and apartment shopping because the first trip sucks and is super expensive. MAKE FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE WITH A CAR. Make that a priority before you brave Walmart with just your arms and a bus. Trust me, you will need much more than that to unload all your new crap. My grocery bill which included stuff like a mattress pad and pillows and other random non food items cost $200 which was pretty uniform across the board. Also be warned if you like healthy food, it's so expensive. Even the frozen fruit was pricey! So that's rough, but at least it's over. I'm sure my next post will be on Traditions. YAY!!!