Reformations? Orientations?

So last year I took a history class called Christianity and Culture from 1450-1600 and the course discussed the many European Reformations. I say Reformations (plural) because that was one of our professor's main points: it was an era of multiple Reformations working together and, sometimes, against each other. Now making a slightly off topic connection, I feel the same way about orientation...or should I say orientations? It's generally referred to as "orientation" and that does not make it seem so bad at all! But it is really so much worse: multiple orientations with multiple people usually over multiple days. For the past few days I have been painfully partaking in various seminars and lectures about being abroad, dealing with culture shock, and the differences between the English language and the English language. Anything and everything that we discussed was easy to pick up or just common sense. On the first day, we discussed the importance of safety which was like pulling teeth. The guy presenting had a slide show and everything, but in the end I already knew to look for emergency exits when I enter a building. Day two, today, consisted of lectures on cultural differences. While I understand them wanting us to not experience culture shock, experiencing culture shock is part of the whole experience of studying abroad! You've taken yourself out of your element for a reason! I would much rather have actually learned these things on my own, not be lectured on them. But, I talked to another international student who had been here for two years already and she said that they do not even skim the surface, so there is still a lot more for me to learn. Regardless, I finally finished my orientations today so that was a huge sigh of relief. Until next time, thanks for following everyone!

FMS