n+2ing our room
Many rooms have couches or huge beanbags or other extra sleeping areas. We have the floor. Despite this limitation, my roommate and I both signed up to host prefrosh for Prefrosh Weekend. Last week, when we were confirmed to have prefrosh, we started planning. Chloe had a big blanket that we laid out on the floor, and we tried sleeping there with our sleeping bags one night:
It was painful. The next night, we tried padding underneath the blanket with some thinner blankets. It didn’t help much. Then, at the beginning of this week, I was talking to fellow blogger Anusha, who told me that she was getting extra mattresses from people to put in their room. I thought this was a brilliant idea, so I went and talked to people who were living alone in doubles. They kindly acquiesced. I got one from Mike, a member of Alley 3, so that was a short but strenuous move:
I was pretty tired after that one, but decided to persist, since it would be sad if only one prefrosh got a bed. I went all the way to the end of Alley 2 to get the second mattress, which required three people to avoid hitting the TV while bringing the mattress down from a loft. We were doubtful about the space, but they ended up fitting perfectly:
Other than there being no space for my chair (which was okay because I finished all my work before Prefrosh Weekend), it was a perfect arrangement. That night, I hung out on the mattresses and various friends dropped by and spent some time on our new, squishy floor. As a final touch, I decorated our board to welcome our prefrosh:
When our prefrosh came on Thursday, the mattresses were a comfortable zone for talking late into the night. Look how cozy Brenda is!
We had 317 or so prefrosh on campus on Thursday and Friday, and it was a little strange seeing them and talking to them. It doesn’t seem like it’s been a year since I was at Prefrosh Weekend. I’ve learned a lot since then, and I’ve gotten to know a lot more people, but I have a long way to go. I remember the feeling of being a prefrosh and trying to absorb every piece of advice about college from current students. I still feel like that, to a certain extent, but though my knowledge and perspectives on Caltech are limited as a frosh, I can answer prefrosh’s questions with a blend of my own experiences and advice from upperclassmen (which, I realize are also probably a blend). It’s like oral storytelling, Caltech edition, and it’s all part of growing up in this school. Prefrosh Weekend took up most of my time this week, from volunteering for check-in and club fair, to coordinating hosts in the house, helping prepare food for the parent reception, working on the photo scavenger hunt, setting up and supervising house events, and (my favorite), talking to our prefrosh, but I’m glad I had the time to do all of it, because it was a very valuable and memorable experience.
