Kill time - don't let it die

    You're headed for your first day of chemistry class in Pearson Hall, and you walk into a read-through of a calculus syllabus: You're actually in Bromfield-Pearson Hall. You make plans to meet a friend for lunch at the cafeteria, but you walk right past it without even realizing. You're on your way to Anna's Taqueria in Davis Square, and you end up peering up at Rudy's Café — in Teele Square. No matter what you're doing or where you're wandering, right now Tufts' campus probably looks a whole lot bigger than it really is.
    As a Tufts student, you share your academic dean with 1,200 other people and your lecture class with 200. You live in a dorm with countless other students. Unless you're confidence and charm incarnate, this can be as intimidating as an international relations professor's superiority complex.
    But there is one big number that might feel more welcoming: The Tufts Community Union (TCU) recognizes over 150 student organizations, from the Queer-Straight Alliance to the Tufts Investment Club to the Backgammon Club. That's why the cannon rarely spends more than a couple days with the same hues. So if you have an interest, there is a high likelihood that you can find a niche somewhere on campus, whether it's onstage in Aidekman, in that strange-smelling lecture hall in Barnum or buried in the cozy depths of the Curtis Hall basement.
    All things considered, Tufts is a small school torn between its New England college feel and its research university reputation. That leaves us with more exciting classes than one can count, many of which remain available even at first-years' ignoble registration time. Equally importantly, it leaves the campus bursting with well-funded clubs and organizations, many of which are hungry for anyone they can find, from helpers to leaders.
    At the risk of sounding like Tufts tour guides, there's no better way to discover your own hidden talent or passion, to meet people or to simply kill time without letting it die, than to seek out a quirky club meeting and throw your name on the e-mail list. If you've never danced before, check out the Ballroom Dance Team. Always been kind of quiet? Join HYPE!, the mime troupe. There is a lot more to college than lectures and note taking.
    And at the risk of sounding like a recruitment agent, the Daily is a perfect example: Tufts is the smallest university in the country with an independent daily paper, and the newspaper office always feels a touch understaffed.
    But we make up for our small stature with a reliable print product every day of classes, including daily arts and features sections — rarities in the newspaper business — as well as a Web site with a growing multimedia presence. Each semester we fight an uphill battle to fill out our staff, which means that everyone who chooses to join the Daily, puts in the time on assignments and shows sufficient interest can find himself or herself rapidly vaulted to a prominent position.
    It's the same story with any number of interest groups and other organizations on campus. Just don't expect a free ride onto the TCU Senate as a freshman candidate. (Wait a couple weeks — you'll see what we mean.)
    In short, while this campus may seem huge today, it is small. And though it is small, it is dense. The Hill is packed with theater and a capella groups, cultural houses and ethnic organizations, publications of all stripes and venues where aspiring musicians can perform.
    So at the risk of sounding like all of your mothers on a Monday morning in high school, get moving.