Nira is more wide-ranging in her choices, and visits a solid two-thirds of the stations before declaring her plate finished.

Kait is apparently depth-first, going to only two.

"That's a pretty sensible way to do it. A lot of these foods aren't meant to be eaten together, so it makes sense to stick to one or two per meal." 

"These are just the only ones I recognize, so..."

Merrin nods. "That's sensible too. I mostly stuck to familiar stuff as well, but I'm trying this vegetable thing because it smells nice, and this other one looks kinda like something I've had even if it's not exactly the same." 

"Trying new things is fun!"

"Maybe next time."

"Yeah. Starting at a new school can be enough 'new' for one day. We've got time to try things." 

Enough talking about food, time to eat it. Merrin discovers that she quite likes one of the new foods she was trying, but the other one has a weird taste. Oh well. This is why she made sure to get some familiar stuff as well. 

Nira evinces no dissatisfaction with her choices, and Kait seems satisfied enough.

"I hope the quality stays up."

"Me too. It would suck if they were just trying to impress us with good food on our first day." 

"What would be the point of that?"

Merrin shrugs. "Do institutions always do things for reasons?" 

She tries to think of an example, but nothing's coming to mind for some reason. Oh well. 

"Yyyes?" Kait sounds unsure.

"Not always good ones, maybe."

Merrin is not actually interested in continuing this debate, and goes back to eating so she doesn't have to come up with anything to say in response.

Pretty soon all the food is gone and they can do other, potentially more interesting, things. 

Apparently there's a fair of some sort where the various student organizations are showing off to attract new members.

This qualifies as more interesting! 

"Let's go take a look!" 

"Okay!"

There's a band, various sports with balls, various sports with sticks, a choir, a board games club, various specific board games clubs, a painting club, a band but with only stringed instruments, a sculpture club, sports without any equipment at all, student governance, sports with balls but you're allowed to use magic, sports where magic is the point, a general art appreciation society, various specific art appreciation societies, a handicrafts group, a handicrafts group but with magic, a theater group, a history society, a competitive mathematics group, a cooking club, a debate group, a philosophy society, a writer's association...

Merrin spends some time talking to the people manning the stands for student governance, history, and philosophy. The debate group are having a mock debate, which she resists getting roped into but stays to watch for a minute or two.  

...sure, okay, she'll take a look at a couple of the magical sports just to see what they are. 

There's one that's like synchronized swimming but in midair and with lights, one that's chess but with duels, one that's just duels, a sort of magical triathlon competing in speed, power, and accuracy on certain spells.

All of those look interesting! Merrin doesn't want to sign up for any right now since she doesn't know how good she is at magic yet, but she'll keep them in mind. Especially the chess-with-duels one. 

Is Kait okay, or is she looking overwhelmed? 

She's over at the triathlon booth. It seems to have piqued her interest.

Okay, good, she's fine.

Triathlon doesn't look especially interesting to Merrin. Magical handicrafts? 

You might think that you can't embroider a sculpture, but you would be wrong.

Merrin loves this place. 

She might be hard to drag away from the fair before it closes, with the way she keeps getting distracted by some new fascinating thing and stopping to talk to whoever's displaying it. 

There's plenty of time before it closes. And to be fair to the fair, the fare it offers is most entertaining. But the people running the booths are in a conspiracy with the people running the fair and the people running the curfew, and everyone is gently but firmly hustled out when it's time to head to their rooms.