I've been oriented

Spent most of Monday on campus attending orientation for the Software Engineering Program. It was my first time there as a student since May of 1999. I really take my familiarity with the 40 acres for granted...there are students from San Antonio, Bay City, and Tuscon, Arizona that are seeing everything for the first time.

The contrast between this orientation and the one I attended in 1994 before coming in as a freshman is just mind-boggling. There are only 30 people starting the program this year, opposed to 300+ that were in CS 304P with me. It seems I've already had more conversations with classmates and professors than I did in five years of undergraduate study. Part of that is due to me maturing and wanting to get more out of this program, but I also see a higher level of personal involvement from the faculty and staff. It is obvious that they want to help us learn and succeed. It helps that "lines of code" is no longer a foreign phrase to me, as it was 10 years ago.