A Year of Memories_First Weekend

After all of my belongings found their new homes in my new room, the “Triple” set off for a long weekend of smiling activities. What I mean is, we attended a number of activities that forced us to smile and make small talk with our new class members. Dances, picnics, ice cream socials, ice breaking activities, and even just time in the cafeteria. All this time was designed for us to meet new people and learn names that we would forget in the next minute.

Thinking back, I wonder how my introverted personality survived that weekend of outgoing hellos. But I have a feeling all of the shyness was left behind because everyone had gone into survival mode. All 320 of us were in a new environment knowing almost no one. We quickly realized that we would have to spend the next two years here, not as just a school, but a home and community. So we would all have to find our niches, no outcasts. So we all fought to find friends. Small talk became under cover interviews and we weeded through the other 319 students to find our best friend.

While trying to find our friends, we also had to sell ourselves. In a matter of minutes, we had to show the other person how great of a person we were. This weekend was full of first impressions. And we all did our best to make them good impressions. This caused us to really figure out who we were. In order to sum up our best traits in 5 minutes, we had to know what our good qualities were. We also had to figure out what types of friends we wanted because our friends took part in defining us.
Although this weekend was hectic and scattered, many of us learned one of the most important things, who we are and how we define ourselves. For me this was a huge confidence boost because I realized I was in control of my life. I learned that I was capable of deciding what type of person I wanted to be and changing myself, for the better.

A Year of Memories_Move-In Day

On August 15 at 9 am. My parents and I were sitting in our car packed with boxes, clothes and endless plastic bags. We were stalling in the parking lot waiting for the “okay” to start unloading. Once the “okay” came, we started taking all of my belongings to the 2^nd Bryan, my new “home”. I moved into a tiny room with two other girls, Annie and Grace. When I first saw them in the midst of all the bags and paper towels, I never even fathomed how close we would become, and how important they would become to me. For now, we were focused on finding a place for all of our belongings and making everything fit. After my parents helped me hang my clothes and build the last bookshelf, it was time for them to leave.

I had planned that I wouldn’t cry, since it would be like summer camp. I would see them in 3 weeks when I went home, and I could video chat with them whenever I wanted to. But when I walked them to the elevator and gave the final hugs, something felt weird inside. I was actually moving out of the house now. Even though I would go back for breaks, this new place would now be my “home” for the next year. Whether it was that feeling, or tears in my mom’s eyes, I felt a bubble growing in my throat so I decided to leave as quickly as possible. A quick hug for my mom, and an encouraging pat on the back from my dad, and they left.

After my parents went down the elevator, there were a few tears, but I remembered that I had to walk into a room, my room, with two other girls in it and I had to act mature. I had to prove to them, and myself, that I could handle moving out. And after all, the next few weeks would be full of first impressions and I was determined to make good ones.