I love orientation. It’s this kind of magical time where everyone is happy, meeting new friends and getting excited about the year ahead, and the stress of midterms and papers seems years away. The entire campus seems to buzz with everyone’s excitement of having finally arrived at the University of Rochester. Last year at this time, I was settling into UR as a sophomore transfer student, eagerly trying to find my niche and asking returning students where to find the dining halls and what classes to register for. I was equally excited and nervous—most of my classmates had had an entire year to form friendships, and I had to jump in and try to play catch up. This year, however, the tables turned and I was the one with the answers, a transfer orientation volunteer, and I can honestly say that it was one of my most rewarding college experiences to date. Not only did I get to help students who were in the same intimidating, yet thrilling, position that I was in last year, but it was also an opportunity for me to really reflect on the past year. The parallels are easy to draw; many of the programs from this year’s transfer orientation were identical to programs last year, so I’ve thought a lot about how much I’ve changed and grown into the happy, well-adjusted Rochester student that I am today.
Last year, I remember feeling very awkward at the transfer student dinner on the night of move-in day. I desperately wanted to make friends, but how to reach out to people? Being a transfer student is similar to being a freshman, but with a few additional complications. There are over a thousand incoming freshmen, but when I was a transfer, there were fewer than one hundred of us. This meant that while it was possible to form friendships, we were much more limited, at least initially. Transfers also seem to have a lot more at stake—many of us are coming from schools we weren’t happy at for one reason or another, so we’re anxious about having a more fulfilling experience here, not to mention having fewer years to do it than do the freshmen. That first night, I remember going back to my dorm room by myself after all of the orientation activities, worried about whether I would make friends and find my place.
This year at the same dinner, however, I had a great time. I confidently made my way around the tables, introducing myself to the new transfers and laughing and having conversations with them and the other orientation volunteers. I surprised myself by being able to answer almost all of their questions—something I would have thought impossible one year ago. It was almost as though I had turned back the clock and was seeing myself in the nervous, enthusiastic new students, but this time with the 20/20 hindsight that everything would work itself out and that there was an amazing year ahead. This time when I went back to my room at the end of the night, I had a Shakira dance party with my friends, singing loudly for the whole campus to hear that our hips don’t lie, and ended the evening by Skyping one of my best friends who I met here last year.
In the early weeks of last year, I occasionally second-guessed whether I had made the right decision by coming here, but now there is absolutely no doubt in my mind. Rochester has every aspect of the college experience I want that my old school was lacking, and I’m sure I will only fall more in love with it over the next two years. To all the new students (especially transfers!) who are reading this: Get excited, because every day here really is “ever better.” 🙂