Hailing from the small town of Sharon, Massachusetts, it was a seven-hour journey to Ithaca College. This means I had to wake up at 4 AM to reach there at 1 PM (Yes I know the math is wrong, but it all makes sense when you consider the fact that me and my mom are terrible at directions, take too long to get ready, and take too many rest stops). Most teenagers would be appalled at the thought of waking up too early, as would I on any other day, but I have been looking forward to college ever since my first day of middle school.
During the 'Welcome to a Living and Learning community" speech I was on my phone the whole time, not because I was bored and didn't want to hear the information but because I already knew it all- I did research. When the dance routine started and the OLs introduced themselves, it was exciting but overwhelming. They all seemed like nice, friendly people- but how am I supposed to remember all their names, much less what dorm they lived in.
Then we split into our randomly selected groups, and all I can say is that I met some of the coolest people in Group A- people I hope I'll be hanging out with for the next four years.
When it was time for Club O, I was unsure- I didn't want to leave my safe haven of chocolate chip cookies and board games that was Orientation After Dark. In high school, I had always been one of the kids who hung back during the school dances, made small talks and snarky comments, and left early.
This time, however, I felt like doing something different. I squeezed my way into a circle of people that I sorta knew and started dancing. I was terrible at dancing, but it didn't matter- I was having fun. I know I wasn't the only one hit with a wave of culture shock and the thought 'They can do that??" when "I just had sex" by The Lonely Island came on (which is, for the record, a total bop). That was the moment where I think a lot of us finally realized that we weren't in high school anymore- that instead of being treated like little kids, we were going to be respected like the adults that we are.
When I went back to my room for the night, I was met with an unpleasant surprise. Some girls who were in my high school tried to start a public fight me over social media. I knew the mature thing would have been to just block them, but at that moment, the last thing I wanted was to let them have the last word. Even though I was exhausted from my long and exciting day, I ended up staying awake until the early hours of the morning trying to figure out the best way to 'win' this before I blocked them. My roommate kept asking me if I was okay, I told her it was just high school drama.
The next morning I was feeling tired but excited for the new day. A combination of four things helped me completely get over what happened last night by mid-afternoon that day. One was, of course, the support I had from some of my amazing friends back home.
Another being the awesome people I got to hang out with during orientation. I remember how I with a group of incoming students to take a different, less traveled by, and longer route between buildings when it was time to go to the next presentation to get fresh air. All of us were somewhat unsure about how to get there and trying to pin the role of 'leader' onto somebody else. We were laughing, making fun of each other, and even carrying each other on our backs. And all the while we were asking "What is even happening right now?" and answering "College. This is what college is." Eventually, we made it- we were a little late, but it was totally worth it.
The third thing that made me feel better was choosing my classes. Many people said it was stressful, which is understandable- after all, many of us have never been given this much freedom and responsibility before, and there were so many options to choose from. I was just so interested in the classes I was choosing. African Drumming? Courtroom Communications? Secrets of the Sword? Sign me the heck up! Literally.
The last thing that made me feel better about the last night was the ridiculousness of the whole situation. I had received word about how they posted on their stories that they 'won' because I blocked them, that everyone's going to watching how this s***show goes down, "your move, sweetheart", and some other nasty things. That's when I firmly made up my mind that nobody's going to watch this show go down because nothing is going down. I'm not going to make a move, because I refuse to play this childish game anymore. I turned my phone on airplane mode and decided to focus entirely on the moment.
The rest of orientation was even better than the first half. I talked to even more people, had some great food (I'm talking noodles and tofu lunch, mac and cheese and mashed potatoes dinner, and an ice cream sundae after dark). I stayed up late that night too, but that was because I was talking to my roommate and friend, who was also in our dorm. I told her more about what happened last night and it felt good to get it off my chest even more- I was surrounded by friends who won't judge me.
I guess the point of my story is, high school sucked for many of us. You are not alone. Even if high school was amazing for you, there is probably something in your past that you'd rather not think about. Don't let it hold you down.
