Follow Catherine & Chelsea as they document their first year at UChicago!
There was a consensus among the class of 2015 at the U of C Sunday night: we all made the right choice. We are here at this school because we want to be, and although our stomachs are finally starting to turn with the thoughts of first classes around the corner, we will pull through. Over the last week, we’ve begun to develop lasting friendships and have gotten much more familiar with our new surroundings. We have had our first encounters with the sticky floors of the frat houses, and have been exposed to various parts of our new city. And finally, we have (hopefully) avoided the notorious “O-mance”.
Although tomorrow starts our foray into the wide and wonderful world of higher education, please allow me a moment to reflect on the past week in an effort to calm my nerves.
Instead of giving you a minute by minute rundown of the week that we all just went through, I’d like to highlight a few of the best moments of my personal orientation experience by listing a few lessons that the past week has taught and reinforced in me.
1. Goodbyes are hard. Although I’d been preparing for move in day for months, and preparing the goodbyes to my parents for even longer, seeing the endless embraces everyone was participating in surrounding Hull gate on Monday was enough to bring a few tears to my eyes. Although I was sad to say goodbye and touched that everyone else was going through the same situation in such a public manner, I would like to conclude that the tears I shed were largely of happiness; I have moved onto a new stage in my life and can no longer be by my parents’ side every second of the day. This is big stuff. Big changes. For me, happy, exciting changes. Oh, and don’t forget, Christmas is just around the corner.
2. Broadview has its perks. I’ve come to a few conclusions over the past few days concerning my living situation in Broadview Hall. First off, the walk (or bus ride) isn’t that bad. Perhaps I won’t be feeling quite the same way in the dead of winter, but for now, I’ve decided not to consider Broadview the other side of the world. Secondly, the house culture, and the people populating my house, cannot be beaten. We’ve done so much bonding this week (going out on group trips to essentially every activity that’s been required, and some other optional activities) that I think it’s safe to say, that by the time winter does roll around, I will have some good company within the four walls that keep the wind out of our rooms.
3. Be careful signing up for RSOs. Ask yourself this question: how many list hosts do I really want to be on? Each RSO has something special to offer to your social and academic life, but that doesn’t mean that you need to join 12 of them. Don’t feel bad going to an RSO table, listening to them talk for 10 minutes, and walking away without a second thought. Don’t join too many list hosts; seriously, they clog your email, and you’ll constantly be getting information on that random club that you became interested in solely because of the cute guy representing it at the booth. Then after going back to your dorm room, you added him on Facebook and realized that he had a girlfriend.
Although O-week has come to a close and the real work of college has begun, I hope everyone is able to look back happily on a great beginning to this next chapter in all of our lives.