Talk talk talk talk talk

That's all I feel I've been doing lately. Let me explain:

I am a resident advisor at the University Center in Chicago. Move-ins of our 1700 residents have been occurring since this past Saturday. And there's no sign of stopping, any time soon.

Move-ins are exciting, I have been living on my floor nearly empty for the past three and a half weeks. I love meeting people that are moving into my floor. That phrase that I had to wait three weeks to say, "Hey! I'm your RA!" is finally being of use.

The schedule for move-ins, however, is a little tiring. Morning meetings are at 7:45am. "Early is on time," so my supervisors say, though we still never seem to begin the meeting at 7:45. Most days move-ins begin at 9am and end at 6pm. We go in shifts and all man different stations around the building. An almost-well-oiled machine.

In addition to moving 200 people in each day, there is night duty, floor meetings, special last-minute projects, floor programs, etc., etc., etc. At the end of the day, I am exhausted. Well, during the middle of the day, I'm also exhausted. But my sugar keeps me going.

About the 'talk talk talk' - when I am the greeter, I stand and await their car door opening so I can give a big cheerful "Hey there!" I inform them of all the procedures for move-ins. I make small talk with the parents so their students don't get annoyed with them. When I am manning the ID card station, I get to give a wonderful shpiel (how DO you spell that word?) about what their card is for, and what happens if they must replace it. Then there are resident questions. Most are good questions, like, "where do I throw out my trash?" Others I can't quite understand, like the suave guy on my floor who keeps asking me if I know anyone who's 21 so he can get some alcohol. Um? I'm your RA, and I'm pretty sure that's a stupid question.

In a perfect world, or a perfect residence hall rather, the RA's would move folks in, get their extra work done before or after their shift, and have some "me" time. I find it amusing when people arrive at our building at 11pm expecting to be moved in. Did they miss the memo?

Nevertheless, I am enjoying myself here. More exciting stories to come, I'm sure of it.