Good Day to all readers!
Happy New Year!
On August 28, 2013, me, my mom, my dad, and half of
my wardrobe were all packed into my dad’s truck and headed to my
university. It was a cheerful and
somewhat sad time. It was what you would
call bitter sweet. After the hour long
drive, we pulled into the very busy entrance in front of my residence
tower. Families, bubbly R.A.s, and
luggage carts were everywhere. I was
immediately welcomed, and given housing registration papers to fill out. While I did that, my parents loaded my stuff into
a luggage cart and later we went up to my room.
One of my roommates had already moved in, and the other came moments
after I did. My parents and I said our
heartfelt goodbyes and college had officially begun. It felt like I sat in one spot for hours,
partly in shock and partly out of having nothing to do. A few hours later, after everyone was pretty
much settled in, had orientation begun.
Orientation consisted of several events which basically forced everyone
to get to know each other better. Mostly
all colleges have orientation. While it
is not mandatory and some choose to skip it, it is a great way to break the
ice, meet new friends, get to know the campus and ease first time college
jitters. It helps you to get over the
shock of college that many of us feel when we arrive. The events consisted of plays, games, campus
tours, and inspirational speeches.
Orientation gives you a chance to make small talk with those that you
don’t know. It encourages openness and
new friendships; it was enjoyable. One
thing that many people who consider themselves shy, or introverted may be apprehensive
about when starting college is meeting new people and making friends; however,
a great thing to remember and a very true fact, is that no matter how outgoing
or friendly a person is, pretty much everyone is in the boat. All of us are wondering about making new
friends, and starting new life-long bonds, so making friends is easy.
One of the most memorable “getting to know your
fellow student” style events during orientation was sponsored by my school’s
Center for Student Diversity. During
this exercise, the speaker stood in the back of the room and called out several
personal classifications such as Catholic, Native American, Upper-Class,
Southerner, Military Family, and several other diverse classifications. Whenever a person fit under one of these
categories, they had to stand. This
exercise reminded me of how different, yet similar we all are, and it’s something
that I will always remember. The exercise
was designed to show us that we were in a very diverse environment with several
different types of people who held several different beliefs, philosophies, and
life structures. This process was meant
to increase respect for those different than ourselves. Thinking back, it reminds me of the diversity
in personality types. Just as diversity
in many other areas of life is celebrated, respected and unabashed, so should
the different types of personalities and ambiences. This events, and several
events to come were great learning and bonding experiences.
For the next few days, people traveled in very large
groups. Entire residence floors, or
special program groups walked together to get food, go to events, etc. This was a great discovery which allowed me
to meet several great people and travel around campus with them. These large groups continued on for the first
few weeks then everyone started to hang out in smaller sized groups based on
common interests, hobbies, majors and other connecting factors. I was still my reserved self, but more friendly
and more open. Things got pretty tricky
when this happened, but, but God still provided a way for me to have great
friends. For me, college has been not
without challenges, but great. You never
know how something will truly turn out until you live through it, it’s true.
With New Lessons
Learned,
Unashamed
Introvertish Girl
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