Flight mode

Round 17: March 2028

Sara Midlock is 19 and Riley Cooper is 18.

Narrated by Riley.

Apparently there was a mix-up thanks to my unisex name and my student info said I was a female... so naturally I was also assigned a female room mate. It was a pretty awkward first couple of weeks. I ended up sleeping on the floor of Sara's room most nights so my room mate could have the room for herself. Luckily they were able to correct the situation pretty quickly. While I was okay with the thought of having a room mate, I got to say I'm happy I have my own room now.

It's been really warm this spring so most days I just lounge around in the backyard by the pool after my morning classes. Sara teases me relentlessly about my "hipster" hat that I refuse to take off unless I go for a swim. I'm really happy I was assigned to the same dorm with Sara. She's so much fun to hang out with.

She has a "sort of a" boyfriend called Spencer. They're not officially a couple but he comes over a lot to study. Usually you can see them sitting in the small study area downstairs.

Then they go to "study" in Sara's room upstairs. Yeah right. I wasn't born yesterday. She says he's great but she's not currently looking for anything serious.

I haven't had much luck in love so far. I've been single since Julia and I broke up about 1,5 years ago and I wouldn't mind getting together with someone. I met this girl April at Lion's Roar one time and we really hit it off immediately.

I asked her out for dinner a few days later and then she dropped the bomb: she's gay. I mean good for her but not so much for me. I guess she figured out that I was kind of hoping we could be more than friends but she was really cool about it. "We can still be friends if you want" she said and I agreed.

Maybe I'm destined to just be friends with the cute girls I meet. I haven't met anyone else I'd get along with as well but it is what it is.

I'm not too bummed about my love life because studying at uni is so awesome! I ended up going on the ROTC program even though mom was really reluctant at first. She finally gave up after she had a talk with uncle Sam who told her that first of all we're at peace and I'd most likely get to work on something connected to my major.

I ended up choosing a double major in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. Hopefully that's something I can work with in the military after graduation but my goal is a job at the SCIA as a tech agent.

I almost wept the first time I visited the Faculty of Technology building. They were building it when I first toured the campus so it's brand new and so high tech I was afraid to touch anything at first, LOL. The lecture hall, the computer labs, everything is just perfect!

My favourite part of the building is definitely the Robotics Lab. Freshman year is pretty packed with theory - maths and physics mainly - but we're allowed to practice a little bit in the labs as well. I can't wait to get my hands on all the cool equipment and really start building something. It'll be awesome!

Grades, Spring semester 2028

- Sara: Dance (Drama), A+, GPA 3.5

- Riley: Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence (Physics), B+, GPA 3.3

Notes:

• Title from "Flight mode" by Redrama.
• Riley is a such a fun character, I feel like this update wrote itself. Poor kid, he didn't really have any luck with women this time. The only one he met and got along was April and then I checked her stats and saw that she likes girls. Oh well, he's young and cute, he'll meet someone.
• I was planning to let Riley live in a double dorm room with a room mate and then of course his room mate turned out to be a girl. I ended up using the cheat to be able to build a wall and turn the big double room into two single rooms. Problem solved.
• I built the Faculty of Technology building in the middle of this play session. It has pretty much all the essentials but I need to add some deco items like paintings etc. I'll try to post a tour at some point.