Coming into college there are so many things that freshmen have not experienced. However, after living at Bentley for approximately two weeks now, I have learned and experienced a variety of new things.
For example: getting exercise. It did not occur to me that my complaints about walking up the stairs during First Week while carrying essentially nothing would pale in comparison to the struggle of lugging a heavy backpack while wearing giant rubber rain boots. In fact, one morning I was asked to Einstein’s by a guy in my math class whom I didn’t know very well; we were about half way up the stairs to Smith when he turned to me and said, “Man, you walk really slowly up the stairs.” Interestingly enough, that was not the first time I had heard that and it certainly wasn’t the last. By now I have learned to blame it on my really heavy laptop and the mammoth sized GB112 textbook I am carrying– even if I’m not actually carrying them. As a result of this painful exercise, we have something to look forward to: a great butt (something my roommate and I remind each other of when we are about three fourths of the way up the stairs and want to quit more than anything)!
The next experience is something that almost anyone on campus can enjoy: walking into a freshman guy’s dorm room only to be greeted by sexually explicit posters of scantily clad women. Maybe I am not used to this phenomenon because I don’t have any brothers, but before arriving on campus I had no idea that guys actually had stuff like this on display. Naturally my response to these posters every single time I see them is a shocked and slightly belligerent, “Um… why do you have that? Are you kidding me? Did you think that you would never have female company?” I am not sure whether I should be offended by these posters or accept that the guys aren’t promoting the objectification of women by owning them.
The third experience I am going to share segues into a piece of advice. The other day I was in my floormate’s room with a few other friends I have made here, and we were discussing Halloween costumes. One of our friends has been deemed the “Mama Cat” of our little group, so I suggested that she wear a trench coat and open it to reveal three rows of cat udders, which not only produced a bout of violent laughter from all of us, but prompted various other ideas including two of us dressing up as her kittens. A new guy friend of ours walked into the room at that moment, and after we had relayed the details of what had just happened said, “How did this even come up? You girls are weird.”
The purpose of including this experience in this post is not to illustrate how weird I am or how weird my new friends are, but to articulate the importance of being honest and to not be afraid to let out who you really are, no matter how “weird” that may be. We are so lucky to live in a kind and welcoming environment at Bentley, where it is easy to find and make new friends. I look forward to all of the other new experiences freshman year will bring, because so far it’s been nothing less than fantastic.