Let's be honest. Arts and sciences kids don't like engineering kids, and engineering kids don't like arts and sciences kids - or, as they like to call them, "arts and crafts" kids. If you don't know this now, you will soon enough. Find some kids from your school, start a posse and stay tight when night falls on N. Charles Street, because hordes of rival chain-gangs from each school have been known to start street brawls. And forget about those Peabody kids - they're scary.
Unfortunately, the streets have run red with the blood of innocent biomedical engineers or history of art students one too many times. The rival heads have often come together to try and stop the violence, but a truce has never worked -- just as fresh blood, your blood, enters the school every year, tempers flare and long-lost rivalries boil to the surface. All it takes is one bad decision, one innocent kid, and the streets are no longer safe.
So here's what you need to do to survive:
Don't do anything stupid.
If you see a rapid exchange of gunfire across the Breezeway, chill out and stay down. This is not a fire -- don't stop, drop and roll, or anything stupid like that. Random, surprising movements will get you killed. And that brings us to the second rule:
Don't do anything that'll get you killed.
This could literally be anything. Just use your instincts, that's what they're there for. Seriously - don't get yourself killed.
Do your homework in a quiet place where nobody can hear you, see you or find you.
If you get caught doing the wrong kind of homework by the wrong kind of crowd, you will walk away - if you can still walk, that is - with one less limb than you came here with. And if you do get caught, seriously, do not stop, drop and roll. This is not a goddamn fire. See rule #1.
If you're crossing the street, and you see someone with a shirt that says "Hopkins Engineering," or "Arts and Crafts," keep your head down and your university-issued can of mace handy.
Say a prayer if you're religious, or even if you're not. Just say one anyway. It's actually kind of comforting. Especially when you're about to die.
Seriously, rivalries are stupid. Some people do actually think their time and effort are more valuable simply because they're either a biomedical engineer or a pretentious art major. Just remember that you're here to do two things: learn and have fun. You won't remember much from your classes, you will remember lots from your weekends. Make friends from different clubs, ethnic backgrounds and, of course, schools. And seriously -- don't get yourself killed.
