A request for freshmen to donate their leftover excitment to those of us in need...
Ah, to be a first year student again. It may very well be the most exciting year of college. All the Buckeyes Blog folks had a meeting the other day, and it turns out I’m the only one left who’s done it from the beginning (my freshman year). This to me is shocking…I can’t believe I’ve been blogging about my entire college career. I’ll have to take a look at some of my old entries this year.
There were definitely a large number of first-year student bloggers. I listened to them eager to make friends and meet people. They would talk to complete strangers, asking what hall they were living in, what campus food they had eaten so far, how they felt about their new majors and extracurriculars, what they thought of Gameday Saturdays. I forgot what it’s like to be that excited about Ohio State, college, and making new friends…heck, even “ice breakers”.
On the first day of classes, I was (stereotypically) texting as I walked to my last class of the day, slightly annoyed for one reason or another. A young lady came up to me and said “Excuse me, I’m so sorry, but I need help. I’m a freshman. I can’t find the Baker Systems building.” She looked terrified. As an RA, I had seen this overwhelmed freshman look many times before. I smiled and talked her through it and told her not to worry at all. She looked only slightly relieved. I’m sure she’ll laugh about the episode in a year or so.
It’s been hard to keep up a positive attitude in this last year of college, but I’m going to try to grab on to some of that first year energy. I remember how thrilling it was to have so many possibilities open and not know what was ahead that first year. I’m kind of in the same boat now, as I think to graduation. I just need to channel that old mindset.