How One Girl (Finally) Made the Adjustment

With just about two months between graduation and move-in day, I experienced a major period of denial. I kept telling myself and others that, “I [was] sooo ready to go to college,” but I really didn’t know what IC had in store for me. It took me until two weeks ago to fully comprehend the fact that I am not going home and I do have to adjust to living without the conveniences- and annoyances (which are a bit easier to deal with)- of living with my family.

See Caylena's Facebook page.

My college career began in the nontraditional way of Community Plunge, a special program that focuses on building leadership and friendship through small group community service. I could not have imagined a better way to start off my time here than by “taking the plunge,” even though I had to live alone in my double room for three days, waiting fervently for my roommate to arrive. Not only was my experience as a plunger exciting and fun, but I also was able to meet so many new people and had the opportunity to make a complete fool of myself, on my second day here, in front of the rest of my fellow plungers and the leaders as I participated in Travelin’ Max’s virgin margarita drinking contest.

The transition from Community Plunge to Continuing Orientation began with the long-awaited arrival of my roommate, Lizz. Moving Lizz in proved to be a success, and so began the task of learning to live with someone. I am probably very lucky with my room assignment, not only because my roomie is one of my closest friends on campus, but also because our room happens to be right across the hall from the laundry room! So, even though I wasn’t placed in any of my “top choices” on my residential preference form, I am incredibly satisfied with my room in the Upper Quads, compared to the annoying room in the Towers, which I resided in during orientation.

Attending the last July orientation session and being an exploratory student is not a fantastic combination during scheduling, so from the ride home from orientation with my mother up until the Tuesday night before the beginning of classes, when I learned I was allowed to change my schedule, I complained about the lack of desirable classes that I would be taking. Because of the registration system and my slow Internet account, I was able to add and drop classes until I had much better classes. With the start of classes, the reality of college was beginning to finally sink in.