Frightening yet liberating, exciting yet horrifying. For most 18-year-old students, the experience of journeying off to college is one of the most important steps they’ve ever taken in their lives, full of new people and new experiences. Jacob Schonberg, a student staying in Milner , stated during an interview that this experience, even though only in its second week, had been one of the greatest experiences in his life, one which he hoped would only grow better with time.

Following the theme of excitement which comes with the first-year experience, Guilford kicked off the week with CHAOS, a weekend designed to help bring the record-setting 325 students of the Class of 2005 together.

CHAOS was a huge hit among many of the students that I talked to during my first two weeks here at Guilford, though there were those students who were negatively influenced by the activity.

Rachel Chang, a Bryan resident, said to me during a bit of free time between activities during arrival weekend, “I would almost rather sit in front of my dorm than do this stuff; I think I would meet just as many people that way.”

Despite the negative influence felt by some students, many still enjoyed the activities, especially the Play Fair.

Will Barber, my roommate and a member of the class of 2005, told me that, “even though the Play Fair thing was pretty cheesy, I still thought it was fun, and I learned a couple of names, too.”

During the first two weeks of school there have been bad experiences, and there have been good. From the input I have received, the good definitely outweighs the bad. After these first weeks, the excitement has begun to slow, and the fears have leveled off. The CHAOS program has proven successful for yet another year.

The freshman class of 2005 has also set in quite comfortably, if I may add, to their new lifestyle, and they seem more than prepared to handle all of the things so-called “college life” is ready to throw at them.