Dan's December 2003 Journal
Dan's January 2004 Journal
Dan's February 2004 Journal
Dan's March 2004 Journal
Dan's April 2004 Journal
Dan's May 2004 Journal

6-21-04  The Smell of Freedom

Hello again my faithful companions! Welcome to another rendition of Dan’s Journal! On our last episode, school was winding down and I was excited about Orientation staff, which I am a part of now. All I can say is WOW, it really is different living by yourself.

There’s 14 people on the Orientation Staff and we are living in the Village Townhouses, in which every person has their own room. I moved into my dorm about a month ago and I have been loving it ever since! One side effect of living so close to home in Cheektowaga is that my mom still expects me to make short visits and such but I guess it’s alright because for the most part, I always bring something back to my dorm when I go home.

	Here is the orientation staff being led in a planning meeting by Orientation Chair Demario Strickland.

From a commuter stand point, living by yourself is wicked. Of course the good benefits of living by yourself is that you live by your own rules and don’t have to listen to your mother or father telling you what time to be home and go to bed. Although you have this freedom, don’t take it too likely because all-nighters are not the best for your body as I have found out.

If you are from around the area and dorming, I can tell you that almost definitely you will have a hard time fitting in your old friends with the new ones that you make on campus. In the beginning I felt pulled between two worlds. All the people from Orientation wanted me to hang out with them and go out with them while my friends back in Cheektowaga wanted me to drive back home and hang out with them. Sometimes I just don’t feel like driving back so I’m just lazy and just stay in my dorm and watch a DVD or listen to a CD. It’s better now but working on time management, even when it has to do with friends, can prove to be extremely tough.

I have training from Monday thru Thursday from 10-4 pm. It really is not that bad. All of us on staff get along just SUPER! By the end of the summer we’ll probably get sick of each other because we know so much about each other and have been hanging out so much. It’s amazing how you could go into a situation where basically you are with 14 strangers and such friendships can sprout out of nowhere. I guess that’s just the joy of college life. Many friendships that you hold close and keep for life are made while you are in college. Who knows, for all you future prospects, maybe we’ll cross paths and become really good friends! Hey, it’s a possibility!

My first Orientation session is July 7th and 8th and I’m really looking forward to it.

Here is Catherine Cohen '06 trying on her new orientation jacket.

It’ll finally be time to show the incoming freshmen and parents all that we have, plus to show to ourselves that we are true leaders of this campus and that all our hard work was really worth the month of training that we had. If you are in our first session, be prepared for a crazy time because I know I’m going to be really psyched for it!

I think that’s pretty good for now, if you have any questions, just email me, even if it’s about anything in general about Canisius that you had a question about. Most likely I’ll be able to answer it for you. Have a great start to your summer kiddos!

P.S. For all of you who cook, never start a frying pan on High because within a minute you’ll see smoke and the room will smell really bad and you’ll burn the pan…Of course I don’t know this from experience living by myself.

Your Good Ole College Buddy
Daniel P. Puccio ’07
Commuter Student Association Vice President
Email ME!!! Pucciod@Canisius.edu ( I get lonely by myself, I need an internet girlfriend haha JK JK!)