Dominican College of San Rafael - Firebrand Yearbook (San Rafael, CA)

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DIARY OF A FRESHMAN September 2. NOW dawns one of the memorable days of my life, my first day at college and my first look at my new home, Meadowlands. I stood speechless before this foreign building which so soon is to hold many memo- ries of gay events and prankful hours. The older girls, I noted especially, were so friendly and helpful to those such as I who seem to spend their time in a state of constant bewilderment. Meadowlands is an ideal home for college students— three living rooms and each one with a piano! How I can manage to live under the same roof with ninety other freshmen and within the same four walls with two others is some- thing I am looking forward to discovering. And now, dear diary, I will close, and with a shy nod to my new roommates, I will turn off the light and sink into the foamy whiteness of my bottom bunk, and sleep. September 4. Classes started today. They are quite different! After every class the throngs poured out into the popular area of land called the Grove , which is a great center for the nerves quencher we call smoking; I go there purely for cokes. 156

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September 7. Eleven-thirty in the morning, and off for a launch ride around San Francisco Bay. Spirits high; here is California at its best. As a new student I was properly impressed. A salty view of the Golden Gate and a close glimpse of Alcatraz provided a thrilling topic for letters home the following week. September 17-19. Horrors! Frosh initiation. Three days of fun for upper classmen and anxiety for lowly freshmen. No one was spared and, in traditional manner, the babies of the campus learned the hard way the requirements of college life. Outlandish costumes varied at the whims of initiation officials. Fun, laugh- ter, extra doses of bed-making and room-cleaning were prescribed duties for festivities which ended with a picnic in Forest Meadows. September 22. The time three o ' clock, the scene again Forest Meadows, the occasion a picnic-dance. Baseball, arch- ery and hamburgers were headline afternoon activi- ties, while dancing on the tennis courts and robust singing around a picnic bonfire took the evening spot- light. October 5. The Freshman Reception and our first opportunity 158