With only about two weeks of summer left there's a lot to do before college begins. Here's how I'm preparing for the fall semester.

I attended college freshman orientation about two weeks ago. It was a few hours in the morning as a tour around the campus. It was a nice review of all the services and opportunities available.

Orientation was optional, but I chose to go in hopes of getting some dates of events that aren't online yet. Most of the information discussed I already read on the college website. I wasn't really able to get any specific questions answered, but I did find the dates of some upcoming events I'm interested in and get a tour of the campus, so it was worth it.

I have to go back to campus before classes start to pick up a parking decal and drop off my immunization record.

Today I contacted all of my professors for the fall semester informing them of my food allergies. I basically kept the format the same for each email. I said my name, what class of theirs I'm in, that I have food allergies, I carry my own epi-pen, what I'm allergic to and that I wanted them to be aware of my situation in case of an allergic reaction during class.

I also let my advisor know that I contacted all of my professors about my allergies and reminded him of what I am allergic to and what classes of his I am going to be in. He told me in April to email my professors before the semester started, so I figured two weeks before was probably good.

At first I was not sure if I should contact just the hospitality professors or all of them, but I decided to email all of them. It is better if they all know so I can be safe and not sorry. I am a little nervous because there's no guide of what to write and how much information to include when emailing them, so I just hope I handled this all okay. Well, that's why I have this blog to begin with because I have no idea what I am doing and that probably means others like me also have no idea.

I have not informed disability services yet because I need documentation of my food allergies from my allergist. I am going to my allergist a few days before the semester starts. I still need to come up with instructions to send her so they can have all the documentation ready for when I see her. I'm not exactly asking for accommodations from the school, I just want them to have the documentation of my allergies in case there is a problem.

For now I'm going to make sure I stay on top of everything and take all the actions needed so hopefully everything works out.

#college #advisor