Pensive Pineapple Vol. XXXIII,
I think that one of my regrets from this past school year was telling Vaasavi, my Community Advisor, that I’d write a Pensive Pineapple - a weekly post written by anyone in Morewood E-tower sent out to the rest of the community, but never got around to doing it. So better late than never, here it is… Even though I’m currently lounging on my couch, with not a worry in the world, writing this after eating a home-cooked meal, with basically everything I could’ve asked for during the school year, something still feels a little odd. Knowing that I’d be coming back to campus and seeing my friends in a few months made leaving a little easier. But, it is disheartening to know that every day, I won’t be walking through the breezeway, waiting for the best shower, saying “Hi, good morning” to Ron every morning or being excited to see what food would be at “Friday’s at 4” again. Closing the door for the last time, of my room, didn’t necessarily mean that I’d miss living in a room with leaky windows and sporadic ant problems, but rather it meant that I left the innocence and blast known as my freshman year.
We all remember getting our FAT letter from CMU, officially signing the next years of our life to being a Tartan, having our summer whiz by and finding ourselves in the long line for the elevator on August 23. I remember the first floor meeting, peering across the room as everyone introduced themselves, where they are from and an interesting fact. Even though I don’t recall much from my first night in my lofted bed (probably because I was exhausted, like most nights of orientation), I don’t think that I will ever forget waking up to the blasting of “The Circle of Life” the first morning. Orientation taught us to throw ourselves out there, introducing ourselves to strangers in hopes of making friends. It taught us to be patient while waiting for our meals in Wiegand, to have pride in being a pineapple, and showed us that our lives at CMU would be busy, but definitely a lot of fun and worth it.
Interacting with the E-tower staff and other residents would often leave me in awe, seeing how much everyone did and how excited they were to talk about it. There were many highs and lows throughout the school year, but knowing that there was always someone in E-tower who I could talk to and community that was so supporting, made the highs even better and the lows diminish. It is sad that I’ll never be surrounded by and living with the same community again, but it is so comforting knowing that as I walk through campus next fall, there will be many familiar faces that I will be so excited to smile at and say “hi” to!
Thanks Vaasavi for holding me to writing a Pensive Pineapple every time I saw you. I definitely know that I do not think that I can accurately express my full reflection of this past school year in words, but I hope that anyone who reads this and interacted with me during the past nine months realizes how appreciative I am for them and this past school year.
Thanks,
A fellow Pineapple