In a way college orientation makes you feel like you've gone backward in time, despite it being a gigantic step in your future. All of a sudden, you're surrounded by strangers, being led by someone older dressed like a summer-camp counselor. You are required to play name games — two truths and a lie and ninja (if you don't know what that is, substitute it with whatever you would play on a deserted island with 20 13-year-olds who are nearly bored to death).

But then, after an egregious amount of skits and dopey demonstrations, the summer-camp aura fades away and you're left standing alone on a giant campus, faced with several paths to choose from, both metaphorical and physical. It's almost inevitable that you're going to get lost.

My college orientation experience was at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Though I went with my mom, I had several ounces of apprehensive goo in my gut. I'm probably exaggerating the amount of goo in hindsight, because "intro-DUCK-tion" (the university's mascot is the Ducks) was far more important than I foresaw it to be.

Generally I don't find things like orientations and help sessions to be particularly helpful. With college, though, I felt a little different. This is one of the first decisions I'm making on my own; one of the first times I really feel like I'm driving the car that is my life instead of just being along for the ride. Therefore, easing into this new phase I've chosen makes it feel less like jumping blindly into unfamiliar waters. Just being on the campus and around the people I know I'm eventually going to have to befriend made my future less figurative and murky, and more like reality.

Picking my classes was the major event that made traveling 1,000 miles worthwhile. Picking classes sounds easy, like something you could do online. Well, in fact, you can. But meeting face to face with a guidance counselor helps a lot with the surprisingly hard process (picking classes becomes a lot harder when you're picking between things you actually want to take). You even get some of the scoop about what teachers are known for and who to sign up for first. It's harder to make impulsive decisions you'll regret when talking them over with someone who knows what's up.

If you're planning to take a language in college, or an advanced math class, you'll have to take a placement test. But placement tests are the only academic activities you have to dread.

Lastly, there's the possibility of meeting someone you click with at orientation (it's hard not to form a relationship with whomever you sit next to at the how-not-to-get-raped skit). At least you'll have someone to look for when the first week rolls around and you're the only one from Santa Fe.

So, though you're not quite old enough to skip the name games and go adult with name tags, college orientation is something that might actually help in the long run.

Lucy Ohlsen is a freshman at the University of Oregon. You can reach her at limefreak44@cybermesa.com.