So, It's been nearly a year since I posted the last post. I did graduate!! I somehow found a way to finish all those papers and research reports. I even made Dean's List which is amazing considering how many of those papers were written/edited/and submitted within an hour of so of it being due.
In about 4 weeks I'll be able to say that I survived my first year of being a Resident Director. I've only wanted to completely quit the field of Student Affairs three or four times. I've considered quitting this job approximately 237 times. I decided to stay another year at this institution and I really hope it was a good idea.
Recap from the past 10 months:
I graduated! Nobody bothered telling me that Graduation could be a STRESSFUL time! If Graduation was only 1/3 as stressful as a wedding me and my boyfriend already decided we are eloping. All the ceremonies we had to attend, directions we had to give out to family members, dinners we had to plan, ugh. Now that it is over I can smile and say "Aww, such a great day" but when I was experiencing it all I wanted to do was fast forward to the moment in which my name got called and I got to snatch my diploma out of the hands of a Sociology professor.
Only God understands how much my diploma means to me (as it is proudly displayed in an obnoxiously large diploma case in my living room/kitchen). Fall 2005-Spring 2009 was an uphill battle with an army pushing me downhill while I carried my body weight's worth of books on my back in a flimsy backpack with no cushioning in the shoulder straps. To me my diploma signifies that I can do whatever I want to do no matter who tells me that I'm incapable...as long as I put my mind to it. Who would have thought that the girl who had a .9 semester gpa her freshmen year and was on academic probation because of those grades for the following 3 semesters would wind up graduating ON TIME and more than qualified to attend a graduate school of her choice in Sociology or Higher Education. A gospel song comes to mind with lyrics consisting of "Who else but God...who else but God".
So I started working in early June at my current place of employment. This was the first time in my life that I was homesick. My parents helped me move into my on-campus apartment, took me to dinner and Walmart, and waved goodbye as I stood in the midst of all my belongings, trying hard not to cry and beg my parents to load everything back up and take me back with them. Don't get me wrong, I'd lived away from home (1.5 hours to be exact) all 4 years of college and typically only went home for the very few holidays that my school forced me to leave campus. I wasn't home-sick at all during college (at times I missed home, but usually a phone call or email helped...I was never a student who sat on my bed weeping because I was away from home)
Looking back, before I started working I had never been in a position where I was in a new environment without pre-established friendships/family kin to assist with my transition to a new environment. Whenever I went to a summer camp I went with 2 or 3 friends. Whenever my family moved to a new state/city/continent; we moved as a family. And when I went to college I was armed with multiple "friends of friends" who emailed me, called me, and checked up on me at least once a week. My cell phone was ringing with people I had met over Orientation (asking me where I was so we could meet up) before my family had even finished the goodbye hugs. Plus, it really didn't hurt that I had already formed a close relationship with a certain individual with whom I later started dating before the end of the Fall semester.
However, I came to this position as a RD in an environment in which I knew NO ONE. Not even a friend of a friend of a friend. I got lost every day I went out in search of a Walmart/ Target/ mall. My GPS was my best friend, other than that....I was fending for myself. Oh, and for the first month I hated my apartment. I was hot, was in an un-air conditioned residence hall (I did have 1 AC unit...and soon got another one), and the apartment that I was living in looked drastically different (and smaller) than the apartment I was shown for my on campus interview.
You'll be happy to know I had an amazing group of co-workers, great supervisors, and that any apartment can look like home with a little bit of work and re-arranging. I soon learned my way around the area and was able to confidently drive without GPS within about 3.5 weeks.
All in all, its been a good year. I'm happy I'm working at this school and hopefully it wont take me a year to write my next post. Don't hold your breath though.
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