Brown University

<p>I'm glad you loved it so much, with<em>one</em>voice! I think you should put some highlights on here for us newbies!</p>

<p>Haha, okay, let's see...</p>

<p>Things that I did and recommend:</p>

<p>*Providence mall -- An AWESOME mall! My mom didn't wanna leave when we drove up. It's huge and has a lot of great stores and a large food court with many restaurants. It's so close to Brown that you can walk up with a bunch of friends and just hang out there for a night.</p>

<p>*Ice cream social -- The one on my first night was cancelled due to the weather, so they rescheduled for a week or two later. It was really nice, because it's out on the lush green... Obviously it's free, and all the Brown RAs are dishing out so much ice cream/toppings/everything. Yumminess.</p>

<p>*Lectures/seminars -- You should definitely take advantage of these. They probably change from year to year, so check out the schedule you get. Go with a friend one night to an interesting lecture. When I was there, I attended one on intelligent design (very informative) given by a famous scientist, another on writing those college essays, and another on college admissions in general. Lectures are held several times each week, at night, so there'll be plenty to choose from.</p>

<p>*Thayer Street -- There will definitely be things going on at Thayer Street, the strip of stores running through Providence. One night that I was there, there was a car show kinda thing, so there were lots of people just hanging out on Thayer. Even when there aren't venues and specific things like that, you'll be at Thayer all the time because of the good restaurants and shops. Take a little dinner trip with friends in the evening when you're bored.</p>

<p>*Fourth of July -- Obviously this only applies if you'll be at Brown for July 4th... But if so, your RA should lead groups of kids to see fireworks. Mine took us to this nice park atop a small cliff where we could see all of Providence and the fireworks being shot off throughout the city. The whole park was full of Brown summer kids, so it was nice.</p>

<p>*This one won't apply to you, but when I was at Brown, the World Cup was going on, which was an awesome way for people to hang out together. Whenever a game would be on, kids would collect in the common rooms to just chill out and watch the game. So even though there's no World Cup this year, maybe just get together with friends in the common rooms sometimes to kick back and watch TV or something.</p>

<p>*Talent show -- I would think they have this every year. I wasn't in it, but it was really fun to watch! People vote, so at the end there'll be a winner and runners-up. If you have a talent (musical instrument, dancing, singing mostly), then definitely enter and show what you've got.</p>

<p>*Taco night, poker night -- Great ways of just having fun. They might not be in your college house, so you and some friends can walk to a college house nearby, where there will obviously be a bunch of other kids, and you can engage in whatever. These were just 2 of the ones that were there last year that I attended. Who doesn't like tacos or poker?</p>

<p>Things that I didn't do but recommend:</p>

<p>*College tours -- Every weekend there should be group tours to nearby colleges. Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, etc. There weren't tours to any schools that I was interested in during my stay, but if you're thinking of applying to one of the schools that there's a tour for, definitely go!</p>

<p>*Beach trip -- There was one of these during my stay. Although I didn't go, most of my friends did. If you're a beach loving person, or just feel like spending the day with your friends at the beach, take advantage of this.</p>

<p>*WaterFire -- It has its own website, so you can google it... WaterFire is the group of platforms that runs through the river in Providence, and every two weeks or so they ignite the platforms at night and people come to see. My friend said it was boring after a while, but I'm sure it's nice to experience, if just briefly.</p>

<p>*Film showings -- There should be some of these during your stay. Again, if they're showing a movie you like or wanna see, grab some friends and go!</p>

<p>*Toga party -- My friend went to this. I'm not much of a toga person I suppose. It was fun looking at pictures though.</p>

<p>So yes, these are just a bunch of things I thought of off-hand. If I had more time to think I could probably recall more. Brown will plan a lot of activities for everyone to engage in, and your house RAs will plan even more for you on top of that. As soon as you make some friends, just attend a lot of the events that Brown plans and it'll make your stay really great and exciting. If there are some nights that nothing's really going on or you're not interested in them, that's what Providence is for, a great outlet to have.</p>

<p>Hope this was decent. Have fun everyone!</p>

<p>I have a question about Harry Potter, lol. There's a curfew at Brown, right? So will we be able to bend the curfew a little to go to the midnight release of Deathly Hallows? Also, if I want to pre-order Deathly Hallows at some point, which bookstore in Providence should I pre-order from?</p>

<p>with<em>one</em>voice-- that was so helpful! thank you!</p>

<p>The curfew should be 12, but I'm sure they'll let you come back a little bit later for that special occasion (which I'm really excited for too, except that B&N is mailing me the book, haha). Just talk to your RA and it should be fine.</p>

<p>And np barack, glad to help. =]</p>

<p>with<em>one</em>voice -- was there drinking going on when you went?</p>

<p>also, when is the deadline to change classes... lets say i get there and dont like my class, am I able to switch after the first day?</p>

<p>There was no drinking, at least not that I was aware of. The administrators and RAs made it VERY clear that there was to be no drinking, smoking, etc, or you could be sent home.</p>

<p>And I don't know if you'd be able to switch classes. If you notified someone early one and there was available room in another class, then perhaps. Go to your RA if that problem were to arise.</p>

<p>ONE WEEKERS </p>

<p>I have an announcement. If you're going to come anytime soon, then you should stay away from all of the seven week students because they will automatically not like you (there are degrees of acceptability but they are very small). I cannot understate the segregation between the two programs. And you three weekers should watch out too. Don't get me wrong. the seven weekers are great people and most are very nice but it's kind of like that upperclassmen to freshmen thing. But admittedly you guys will have better dorms and more people than the seven weekers so use that to assuage the dissension. </p>

<p>WELCOME TO BROWN. summer students</p>

<p>Hey, for those of you there or going soon, are you going into the airport in Providence or the Boston airport? If I go into the one in Providence (TF Green), I have to connect flights, or I have to take the hour and a half bus ride from Boston with one flight so I don't know what's better..</p>

<p>MJ- What's up with this "segregation"? I mean, I understand if you'd already had friends who were staying the whole time, but a full on rivalry? Weird.</p>

<p>Tweetjazz- how much time would you spend with the connecting flight instead of the straight flight? are the prices different? use these things to decide. I'm going to the providence, as are most people I know and on this site. And make sure there's at least a half-hour between flights (the connecting I mean) because you don't want to take the chance of missing your flight!</p>

<p>oh, I forgot one thing!</p>

<p>with one voice- what did you do in all that free time between courses? I'm only doing a mini, so before and after the 3-hours, I've got NOTHING! I'm so used to structure-structure-structure and activity after activity! I'm sure once you get a group of friends it'll be cool, but for those first few days, what on earth did you do with yourself?</p>

<p>it says to bring something formal, do we have to bring a suit? I dont see why..</p>

<p>I am a 7-weeker at Brown. . .I've been reading my neuroscience textbook all day, so I'm taking a break. :]
To clarify:
I love the 1-weekers. . .heck, all the weekers. Personally, when I see someone new, I begin by asking if they are a 7-weeker, etc, then ask what courses they're taking, where they're from, small talk, blah. I like meeting new people and don't see why any 7-weeker would be mean to non-7-weekers. . .I mean we don't see them as much b/c they have different schedules. . .but still.
Everyone here is soooo nice. You guys will have a blast, I promise. . .I was initially so nervous, but there's no need to be.
The only bad thing is that it's a ten-minute walk up Thayer Street to get from my dorm to the dining hall, classes, etc, but that may not apply to you.
My classes are very hard, but I'm doing two science courses and was not adequately prepared for it in high school, so again, this may not apply to you. There's so much to do, I have to really make myself study.
The food is pretty good. . .
And as for bringing something formal, I think it's just in case there's some special occasion. So for a guy I'm thinking khakis and a nice button-down would suffice. I don't know. I haven't seen any dress-up occasions. One note: you'll probably have to walk up and down Thayer (which is nice--lots of little shops and restaurants) a lot, so BRING COMFORTABLE SHOES! :]
I look forward to meeting you, whatever-weeker you are.</p>

<p>^ nice person :)
Thanks tina you relaxed a couple jitters of mine! I'm leaving tomorrow for my first session...Can't wait to meet you and everyone else who's posted here!</p>

<p>TINA!!! You messed up my plan. The one weekeres were supposed to get here and be afraid of us. That would have been hilarious. You're such a joykill...</p>

<p>PS Tina you need to get out more. I only see you in class</p>

<p>hey im thinking about going to the brown summer program next summer. it sounds like so much fun!! i was wondering if people who are there now or have been there before could answer a question of mine.</p>

<p>Do most people come alone (without knowing anyone else whos going)? I'm a little worried that if I go by myself and everyone else came with friends then I will feel very left out. Is it easy to make friends in the very beginning whom you can do stuff with or do you feel kind of lonely and bored the first couple days? Also, I know some people have already given this kind of information but if anyone else can post the activities and stuff that people do in the downtime when they're not in class it would be really helpful because I know a lot of us are curious about what life is like during the summer at brown.</p>

<p>Thanks so much!!</p>

<p>I applied and got accepted and everything, but they didn't offer me any financial aid, so i didn't go. I was going to take the "So you want to be a doctor" mini-course.......instead i'll be spending my summer playing on a tennis team....BEST SPORT EVER!!!!!</p>

<p>well holy crap it's mike (i assume)
lol lol lol
i would get out more if i didn't have to read my TEXTBOOKS!!!</p>

<p>yayay! i'm leaving in two and a half hours!!! :)</p>

<p>
[quote]
with one voice- what did you do in all that free time between courses? I'm only doing a mini, so before and after the 3-hours, I've got NOTHING! I'm so used to structure-structure-structure and activity after activity! I'm sure once you get a group of friends it'll be cool, but for those first few days, what on earth did you do with yourself?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>For the first few days, I was a bit lonely. I learned quickly that I had to be kind of.... socially aggressive if I wanted to have a good time. Before I made friends with the people that would eventually comprise my core group of friends, I spent some time with my roommate, although we eventually drifted apart. The first day or two I had dinner with my roommate, so hopefully you'll befriend your roommate, who you can spend the first few days/hours with.</p>