Newbie

There are very few things more nerve-wracking than stepping into a completely new campus on the first day of New Student Orientation, and one of these is stepping into this completely new campus on the first day of class.

Me, saying goodbye to my family the first day of Orientation

It's not just the hordes of people, or the sweltering heat, or the cold sweat running down your back-- a cool reminder that your class must've already started, and you definitely overslept, even if your schedule says you're a half hour early. It's not only the utter lack of company, the vague discomfort of the new food lurking around your belly— it's the absolute certainty that you're not prepared for college at all, and can I go back to El Salvador, por favor? 

Central Pennsylvania, Woody Hibbard, Flickr

El Salvador, Diego Brito, Flickr

(That picture just above this caption is basically the whole country. Central Pennsylvania is just a tiny sliver of land in a state. You can see how moving from a tiny country to a big expanse of countryside was a huge change in itself.)

I can imagine Mae Holland, from a small town in California, feeling the same sense of overwhelmingness as I did when I first got to Penn State. Being surrounded by so many people who knew what they were doing, where they were going, how and why things worked around here. For me, every interaction was just an intricate set of symbols and rituals, interconnected in some mysterious way, without any proper logical order to it.  Everyone seemed to exude an aura of intelligence, coolness and absolute confidence in themselves and their surroundings that I most definitely lacked. Mae definitely felt the same way, overwhelmed and scared.

However, Mae had a friend, Annie. And I didn't. 

I feel like our experiences in a new place differed because of this: Annie provided much-needed support to Mae in the first couple of days. She had both an insider and outsider's point of view on the situation, so she felt more comfortable moving around the company. I feel like having an insider in the "company" (in this case, the university) can be both good and bad. I mean, I had to get friends, stat. So I went out, forced myself to smile and talk, and I've now got a nice squad that I can rely on for support. They're not Annie, but they'll suffice. 

I distinctly remember how it felt getting the key to my dorm room: freeing, exciting. I now had a place to call my own. Similarly, Mae gets a station in a "flower pod" of desks; a space that is hers only. This helped her feel part of the community already, by asserting her being needed and wanted by the company. They wanted her there so much, they gave her her own station. 

My own station isn't as glam as Mae's:

But the same feeling remains-- my own space to customize, alter and make mine as much as possible. 

Finally, the main tradition that separates me from my community is its unwavering love for all things football.

I never had any idea what football was, how it was played, and what the rules and specifications were. I saw everyone get excited over season tickets, and buying university merchandise, and I honestly didn't understand what was going on. Much like Mae, though, I was quickly sucked into the masses cavorting towards the stadium on game day, if only to see what the fuss was about:

And I loved it.

I think it's safe to say, I'm on my way to becoming a really good Circler Penn Stater.

Go blue!