if i think i can figure things out, is that curiosity or arrogance?

It was a little dishonest, Topher thought, to claim that this whole Admitted Students Weekend was a true immersive experience in Stanford student life and then have prospective students stay in hotels. On the other hand, he had had more than enough of dorms over the past four years, and a rare opportunity to sleep without some rando from Kansas (just as an example) five inches away was a pretty sweet deal. That was the best night's sleep he had had in years.

Despite having to wake up annoyingly early for a day full of campus walking tours and Science and Engineering Quad tours and something called an "ice cream social," which sounded like a weird blend of delicious (ice cream) and unpleasant (social), Topher was liking this Admitted Students Week thing so far. There was a family one room over from him in which one daughter kept crying because she hadn't gotten in and didn't see why she needed to be dragged along on her sister's 'victory tour.' That was a nice ego boost. And according to some kid on Reddit, if Topher timed his public transit rides correctly, he could skip out of the Volunteering and Public Service lecture, get some In-N-Out, and be back in time for dinner.

So far, he thought he'd like college. Now all he had to do was graduate high school this weekend.

[[open for phone calls!]]

Thanks to a series of events that he would prefer not to recount, thank you very much, Topher now had a slight pea soup problem on his Stanford hoodie, and his generally bad clothes-washing practices meant that he was just going to order a new one online and keep wearing this one until the new one arrived.

He was going to do so well in college.

In the meantime, he was filling out a roommate questionnaire online with the door and window open and his pop music playlist playing just a touch too loudly. Honestly, he was feeling pretty good today, pea soup be damned.