To be honest, I only came for the free cookies and brownies.
I went to a G-Chat meeting because it was freshman fall and I was very hungry and bored. In between having a mini existential crisis about if I wanted to be pre-med (nope, definitely not after LS1b) and worrying about whether to comp one club or apply to another one, I was stressed.
But a random email had arrived in my email about free brownies and cookies and conversation in Canaday B basement. I was living in Thayer (best dorm by far) at the time so it would only be a minute away. Besides, I didn’t have to spend all my time there. That is what I told myself when I first stepped foot in the Women’s Center in Canaday B basement on a Tuesday evening.
For some strange reason, I felt immediately at home even though I never been to the Women’s Center before (which always has a great assortment of tea just in case you’re tired of d-hall coffee). I also had never met most of the other girls there before.
At the moment, I thought it was the fact that I could eat my way to the freshman 15 without going to Annenberg brain break. But looking back it was not the amount of sweets that I was allowed to humanly devour but it was the conversations I had or listened to.
We talked about the fun stuff like best places to find books or clothes and more serious topics like dating on campus or sexual assault. And during these talks, my squeaky freshman voice was not irrelevant. It just contributed to a new way someone might have thought about a topic or an issue.
Then the bowls of food went empty. People switched topics. The food got refilled. We end up talking about Beyoncé like we always should. And then the meetings end but I felt like time passed so quickly, too quickly even. I had so much more to talk about and more to listen to. So I came back again.. then the next meeting and the one after that.
And that’s why I’m here today as a Co-President of G-Chat. During freshman year, it takes a lot of work to get comfortable talking with people or even getting them to listen. I was and still am so lucky to have had the support of my friends, my PAFs and proctors. But not everyone has that same opportunity. Besides, sometimes you need a space where the main goal is not to comp or to do a pset. Maybe you just need to talk.
So, this is to the freshman who is definitely sure about everything and also to the freshman girl who still isn’t sure about anything. Come on over. Sit down. Have a cookie or ten. Tell us about your day. We will love to hear your voice.