Starting the first year of any school is always a tricky transition. Getting all the right supplies, preparing for all the orientations, and settling into the community. The first two may seem like the trickiest at first, especially those hectic, last minute shopping for the "Back to School" clearances. However, those usually get resolved once on campus. Although a lot of people may say that settling into the community is easy after orientation, especially for those who consider themselves social butterflies, but for someone who is shy, it is a little difficult.

I find it hard to open up to people right away. It's not that I dislike the act of socializing and talking to people, I enjoy having conversations, small talk or otherwise, and I like being around people. I just find that once people go through all the introductions of orientation, the dormitory, classes, and extracurriculars people find their niche rather quickly. In my case, and I'm sure others agree, I want to take time to understand and know people. I don't mean the surface of who they are (i.e., where they're from, what clubs they're in, etc.) but their beliefs, personality, and how they treat themselves and others around them.

Of course, it is hard to ascertain all of that from ice breakers and introductions, but I feel that it is an important aspect of friendship and creating a bond from a relationship. Being a shy person, I may be too reflective of how friendships could be made, but from my experience, I cherish the very few, but strongly interwoven friendships that I have. Sure, it is fun to go with a large gang of friends every now and then, but I find that the friends that relate to you in whatever situation, no matter what time or place are the ones that must be truly valued and be spent the most time on.

So, go out and meet as many people as you can and express appreciation to everyone but particularly for the people who care for you as they would care for themselves and their own family.