Starting College: Shared Experiences
I feel like I am able to relate to Sarah in many ways. Over the summer, I spent my time working and hanging out with my friends just like Sarah did. Unlike Sarah, who built close bonds with people from home before leaving, I distanced myself from most of my hometown friends and spent more time with my family and new people who were going to Longwood. I went to a concert that was similar to Summer Fest in the story. While she was shopping for school, she seemed overwhelmed and stressed. I felt the exact same way while I was getting my things together to move in.
Sarah’s experience in this novel starts to vary from mine more once she moves into college. One difference in our experiences is that my friends and boyfriend helped me move in instead of my parents, so I did not say goodbye to them here at Longwood. Sarah was not friends with her roommate prior to coming to college. I already knew two of my suitemates and had a chance to hangout with them over the summer. Since I had people I was familiar with from the start, I think Sarah’s experience differed from mine. She had to start over and make new friends, so her first couple of days on campus seemed confusing and full of questions. I had a group to fall back on during the process of adjusting to college life, so I think I felt more comfortable than she seems to be in the story.
Although our experiences weren’t exactly the same, the small comments made throughout the novel about classes, emails, and scheduling during her first week of school were funny and relatable to me. It shows how a lot of us are going through the same stressful feelings during this period of change and growth.
When reading Averys blog and I found myself relating a lot to Sarah in the novel and her response. Over the summer I worked full time for Roanoke County parks and rec as a childcare activity leader. In my free time I found the majority of it to spent with my friends. However, unlike Avery I did spends the majority of my summer building strong bonds with my friends from home and less with family like Sarah. Looking back, I wish I would have spent more time with my family, but I do not regret the time spent with my friends. I did reach out to several people at longwood so I would have people to build friendships with once I got here. When it came to shopping for school and getting things to decorate my dorm it got very stressed but at the same time, I was super excited to start this new chapter of my life. Once I got to college my family helped me mom in and we said our goodbyes. I still make time to call my mom almost every day and visit home most Sundays. I was good friends with my roommate prior to move in however a day after moving in she decided college was not right for her and moved out. I find myself relating more to Avery than Sarah because I as well had made connection and friends prior to move in. I was lucky enough to have friends and my freshman days group to figure everything out. Although I do not relate to either of them exactly, I definitely related to different parts of them in different aspects. I picked Averys blog post to respond to be even though we did not have the same experiences we both have things in common.
From reading your post and Sarah’s in Freshman Year I can relate to both of you. Summer went by very fast, but one thing I spent a lot of time doing was working and seeing my family just like both of you. I had a high role in my job, so I was there more than enough. Although those activities took most of my time by choice, I also spent time with close friends from home. Some of my friends and I would go to dinner and then line dancing one day a week. This was perfect to still be able to see them, but also to get used to not seeing them all the time after moving to college. As I mentioned, I spent a lot of time with my parents. We decided to build and make a lot of things for my dorm. This stressed us all out with the time crunch of summer, but so rewarding with all the things we did. Even though I am not like most college students having to room with people they don’t really know, I was very grateful to already know my roommate since she is my childhood best friend. We then struggled to find suitemates, but with enough looking we found two great friends. After meeting them before coming to school, I knew they would be some of my best friends. Like you mentioned the transition was somewhat easier with them, but it was still hard for me to adjust. Similar to Sarah, my parents helped me move into college. This was very upsetting for me since my birthday was in the next few days, and I have never really been away from them during that or really ever. Even though I was very stressed with all the activities we did in the first few days, I had a great time meeting new people and exploring campus. I have now fallen in love with Longwood and all the great things to come.
Dear Avery,
I can relate to how you spent your summer, I too spent my summer working and spending time with friends. Although, I’m a bit shy so I didn’t really reach out to anyone going here except for my roommate, so I just spent time with my friends from high school before I left, much like Sarah. I’m glad you were able to form those new relationships going into college, and I hope it helped make the transition a little bit easier.
You mentioned that shopping for school stressed you out, just like it did for Sarah. I can also relate to this because when shopping for school you’ve got to get the necessities, but also remember that you have limited space.
You said that your friends and boyfriend helped you move into college,but your parents weren’t there. I think it’s great that even though your parents weren’t there you still had a great support system there for you during that time, which I know was probably very stressful. You also said that you already knew two of your suitemates so the transition into college life was a little easier, since you had people you can fall back on to help you figure stuff out. I had quite the opposite experience, while we had the peer mentor groups to ask questions if needed I still felt quite out of place and was scared to ask the questions I needed to know answers for, which led me to wait until someone else would ask the same question.
All in all, I’m glad that your experience going into college was nothing short of great, and I hope that your experience continues to be that same way. I agree with when you said that it feels like we are all going through the same experience and I coud testify to that and say that we are all on the same boat, so I’m glad that we are all experiencing the same fears, anxieties and feelings.
From,
Kaylie