My decision to transfer from my school freshman year, UNC Wilmington, six miles from the beach, where I had established friendships and felt my niche in the dance company, to my current school, UNC Greensboro, a city I had been in only a handful of times, was a tough one. During the process I discovered that I did not have financial aid anymore, and had to jump through hoops to get federal student loans with less than two months until the start of the semester. I had to keep reminding myself, why am I doing this? With the answer being to receive the proper background in musical theatre to work for my dream company, Disney.
It was because of the Disney College Program that I participated in earlier this year that made me truly fall in love with what the company does. I had always been a Disney kid, but it took being on the other side of the stage to realize why I was one. I enjoy making people happy, taking themselves away from reality even if only for a brief time, to experience something magical. Hopefully soon, I will be back for another program (stay tuned!).
The adjustment was quite rough, living off campus my first semester, away from all the activity on campus. Luckily I made a great friend online who was a current student and we instantly became best friends; a spot opened up in her apartment last minute so I took it, feeling some comfort in living with someone I knew and got along with. My other roommate, who was a mutual friend, I didn't meet until a few days later. I like her, too. Even though I had already gone through my ritual as a freshman two years ago, I felt like one all over again, scrambling to figure out where my classes were. Just know, it's okay to ask questions and "look like a freshman". Going to the involvement fair helped find things I was interested in, and ran into some familiar faces.
Unfortunately, lots of activities meet at the same time and you have to choose, feeling them out. As a junior wanting to be friends with people my age, it was hard to make them since everyone has already found their niche in the past couple of years. Just put yourself out there and start talking. Also, it's okay to be friends with freshmen, they're fairly eager to make friends as well. One more thing, try to stay on campus as much as possible during the day, so you don't miss out on stuff. Plus, you might have a random person come up to you and ask you out (I was quite flattered, stay tuned for the results of that as well). Don't regret leaving your original school; sometimes the best choice for you isn't the first one you make.
