My Residential Experience

My first residential experience was here at Chatham. I live in Fickes on the first floor. At first I felt independant... and then my family left and went home. I began to immediately miss their precense. But with the help of my friends I got over that feeling soon enough. I started to feel independant and like I belonged. I noticed that while everyone seemed to keep to themselves that only lasted about a few hours. By the third day of orientation eveyone had formed "cliques" and stayed with the same people at all times. Everyone was friendly to each other in the hallways and passing each other on campus but once settled that's where they were. We may think that college is different but it is the same as high school in the sense that when we find where we want to be and that's where we stay. The only difference is the labels. There doesn't seem to be any of that. But there is still the "Oh Laura, the one who hangs out with Allison from down the hall Laura? Oh yeah, I know her" type of thing. That is how we identify no matter where we are, or so it seems. No one is ever an individual or else we would not know who they are. But that is not always such a bad thing. People are always known for something whether it may be who they hang out with or what it is that they do. It's just that we do not know each other well enough to identify with anything other than the daily habits that we witness. Although, it seems as if people have known each other for years in how they interact with one another. People are always leaning on one another, talking about their problems, sharing anything that their new friends may need. It's not just that they are generous but everyone genuinely cares about the people that they hang out with. It is miraculous to see that people can be so close in such little time. That's the one thing about college that will always be good. The cycle of life is different. You live with these people, eat with these people, learn with everyone, and at the end of the day you are that much stronger together because of the massive time spent together. Never would we have gotten that in high school. College is a beautiful place.