Cell Phone Photo From Week One: Convocation (welcome ceremony). This is the only time that the entire class is assembled as a whole with the exception of graduation.
How does one measure a week in college life? Laundry. I have spent a little over one week at college and I already have exhausted my extensive wardrobe of t-shirts and shorts.
Washing my own clothes is one of the major adjustments to college life. I can no longer put my clothes in a hamper at home and have them “magically reappear” in my bureau washed and folded. Now, I have to press a button for warm or cold water, pour the detergent and push ‘start’, hoping that wet clean clothes appear when I open the washer (and not a deluge of soap).
However, one of the most important adjustments to college is making friends. Over the past four years of high school, I had known enough people that I could walk down the glass corridor and know the names of most of the faces that I encountered. When I first arrived on campus last week, I was expecting to know nobody, but I actually saw many of my friends from GHS. (It seems that quite a few cardinals flew up to Storrs.) When I sat in Gampel during convocation with more than 3,000 of my freshman classmates, I saw Joe Williamson, Jr. across the acre-wide basketball court playing in the Clarinet in the University of Connecticut Marching Band. I’ve seen him many times around campus. And while many people don’t recommend becoming roommates with an old high school buddy, I have found that eating or chilling with your old friends provides a great opportunity to get introduced to other people. And, of course, the laundry room provides a great opportunity to make smalltalk.
As much as I enjoy the experience, I wonder if I will have to wash my clothes every weekend. While most of my friends have done their first wash this week, they have noted that it may be a temporary experience. With the large number of free t-shirts we seem to receive on a daily basis from various clubs and organizations, my doormmates like to say that we may never have to do laundry again.
Question: What adjustments do you remember making when you went to college?
My 2 favorite adjustment memories of college (from way back): I arrived at an cornfield that served as an airport landing strip in Lansing, Michigan, via westchester county, NY and thought “this certainly isn’t like LGA/JFK”. I then took ‘the cab’ to campus, got to my dorm and found myself “tripled” – the equivalent of shoving 10 lbs of hay in a 5 lb bag. I knew no one – i wasn’t even sure anyone had heard of NY before. This was a great experience…four of the best years of my life…and greatly influenced my career and life. Enjoy – you are off to a great start!
Comment by Friend from back home — September 8th, 2009 @ 10:45 pm
My first impression of my dorm room was a concern that my all-jeans wardrobe would not mix well with my roommate’s already-hung-up tartan kilts and sweater sets. She was from OHIO, for goodness sake, not the savvy NY metro area like me. What followed that year was a realization of how differences could combine to make enriched perspectives, and a life-long friendship. Moral of the story: make the most of all the difference you encounter at school and in life.
Best of luck this year, Jay!
Comment by IsCoolMom — September 9th, 2009 @ 9:49 am