<p>How is the first day at boarding school and all the new student orientation. How awkward is it? What's the best way to break the ice? Is it hard to sleep the first night? On the next day at breakfast time where should you sit?</p>
<p>Speaking from experience, it’s very hard that first night. Try to talk to everyone in your dorm as much as possible, but talk to everyone you see around campus. Some of my best friends are kids I randomly bumped into the first week of school. Just sit wherever, you won’t be the only kid looking for a spot, and if you see another new kid all alone, introduce yourself. As far as the orientations, you see kids from other dorms that look like they’ve already found friends and you get worried, but they have not. The orientations are easy, it gives you something to do those first couple of hard days. I remember my second day a bunch of preps from my dorm and I went to dining hall and there were a ton of upperclassmen, so it was definitely awkward. Be social and it will go away.</p>
<p>Thank you so so much for your reply! On the first night did you get any sleep at all and what did you do to get yourself to sleep?</p>
<p>Like PEA said, just talk to everyone. Whenever you see somebody, just smile. You will be thought of as a person who is friendly and who people want to hang out with since you smiled and were just nice. Chances are everybody is feeling the same way as you do, so breaking from the crowd and being friendly and social to everybody you meet will win people over!</p>
<p>It really depends on the person.
I was actually really busy unpacking, so it kept my mind off of family and things. In addition, the proctors in my dorm were super welcoming, and their doors were open to anyone. So really don’t be afraid to talk to them or ask them for advice because they’re there to listen to you.
I was super tired from the orientation day, because there were tons of walking around and it was just hectic, so I slept easily. At Exeter, dorms usually have a dorm meeting that night, where the new kids and proctors introduce themselves, and play a few games to get to know each other, so that helped. :)</p>