I was raised up believing I
was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes,
unique in each way you can see
And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather
be
A functioning cog in some great machinery
serving something beyond me
But I don't, I don't know what that will be
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see
© 2011
I’ve been blessed by the hands of fate to have been accepted
into The Ohio State University main campus here in C-bus. I moved in early with
the Ohio State Welcome Leaders (OWL) Program towards the end of August. I’ve
been here for a few weeks now, and it’s been a roller coaster of emotions. I
took to complaining on Facebook. After all, complaining is one of my most
favorite hobbies. But I’m not proud of the fact that I pretty much wallowed in
self-pity. So, as per a suggestion from a dear friend, I will list all of the
negatives I have complained about, and list 4 positives for each negative. Let’s do it!
Negatives
1. It’s in the city.
All of the brick, glass, and giant buildings drive me crazy.
I am going to miss Orion when he shows back up in the winter sky. Also, not
having access to well water doesn’t sit well on my tummy. I let my water sit to
let the chlorine evaporate out, but it’s still not the same.
2. I miss home.
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| Some of my favorite shots of the farm. Photo Cred: Morgan Capestrain. |
I have early-onset crazy-cat-lady syndrome, so leaving my 7
cats at home was very difficult. Also, the “bellering” of the cows might have
been a little annoying, but I would give anything to run around in the pasture
whenever I please. Looking out the window and seeing pavement instead of our
majestic ponies doesn’t do much in the way of brightening my day. And finally,
my not-so-little puppy (okay, he’s 9) Spot giving me “kisses” is something I
have literally dreamt about since being here. Also, I don’t like people. I am
great at holding a conversation, but I don’t
like people. So the group of friends that I’ve had since middle school is
really important to me. It’s really hard to go from spending lots of time with
them to none at all. Luckily, Facebook helps tons with this one. I can keep in
contact with them, and face-timing helps tremendously.
3. Illegal activities are everywhere
Most times when I've met people, I've carried on a regular
conversation for some time. The normal questions of “where ya from?” “what’s
your major?” “where ya live?” are exchanged and answered. And there’s hanging
out, and then without fail there is talk of either underage drinking at some
Frat party or older person’s house, or weed smoking in so-and-so’s room. So
then I say I don’t do that stuff, and I lose that group of friends since they
aren’t cool with me being that way. This has happened about 5 times, which
surprised me. I mean, I knew those things happened (I wasn’t that sheltered) but the reach of them
was farther than I expected.
Positives
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| The Union Market in the Ohio Union. |
1.Food
The food here at OSU is, most of the time, just Grade-A cafeteria food.
However, I have discovered some gems. My favorite of these is the Brisket
sandwich in the Union Market. It has brisket, deep-fried onion petals, and bbq
sauce on a delicious bread. Also, the food is priced so that you don’t have to
do much math. The weirdest price I have discovered is $3.85 for a smoothie, but
there are other items at the same place that
have 15 cents tacked onto the end, so that way it ends up to an even dollar
amount. I think this is an ingenious system, and really helps with budgeting.
Which segues into my next positive point.
2.No taxes
If you use your BuckID (university issued identification system) when you
purchase food, the sales tax is taken off. This even works in the diner,
Sloopy’s, which is pretty fantastic when you’re doing math with how many blocks
you are going to spend. (sidenote: 1 block=$5 and based on the plan the student
chooses, a certain number of blocks is preloaded to their BuckID. Mealplans are
a required purchase, but you don’t
have to
use the blocks you buy).
3. The Oval
The Oval is my bright spot. It’s the big grassy area that I must cross to
get to campus—unless I take the main roads and spend 30 minutes walking to
class. There are many beautiful trees and always something going on. My
favorite trees are the giant sycamores which have to be over 50 years old. They
attract birds, naturally, so there’s always a chickadee or finch singing at
some point on my walk to class. It makes me think for a few minutes that I’m
closer to home, and that’s nice.
4. It sounds like
Scotland (almost) every morning
I know, this sounds very obscure. Hear me out, I’m not making this up. There is
always a man (he’s missed a couple days) on the Oval on weekday mornings
playing the bagpipes. It is probably some organization, so it’s multiple men
that rotate, but it is a very obscure thing that drowns out the sound of the
traffic a little and always brings a smile to my face. I did borrow the phrase
“…sounds like Scotland” from a fellow student I passed the first morning it
happened.
5. The Professors are
accessible.
To a certain extent. Obviously, with a university of OSU’s size, or any college
really, there are going to be barriers. But
they
are real people. I realize that
makes me sound silly, but I always had this image of profs who are stern-faced
and don’t care about anything but handing out and receiving assignments. The
professors I have prefer to be called by their first name, will have a
conversation with you during class, invite you to office hours that they set
for each class, and won’t point out if the question you just asked was a stupid
one. I have a lecture that includes (roughly) the same number of people that
are currently in my entire high school I graduated from. But Joe never makes it
feel like a giant lecture hall; he
engages
the students that allow him to, and it makes for an awesome experience.
6. The squirrels
These little rascals are so cute to watch! They normally either have a nut
or some food that was discarded in their mouths, and are running around like
they own the place. I crossed the street with a squirrel the other day, and it
looked both ways before crossing (no joke!). The education must extend past the
students.
7. Diversity
Since being here I have met people from all different backgrounds, which I
find fascinating. I met a girl from Nigeria whose family moved to the States
when she was 6. I met an employee of the University from Egypt. I talked to a
girl on the bus from the Middle East (I forget exactly where). There are people
from every walk of life you can possibly imagine. I have a structured group in
one of my classes, and within the group of four (which includes me) there are
two different races, three different religions, and three backgrounds
represented. You don’t have to search for the diversity, because it jumps out
at you—and that’s freaking awesome.
8. I can go home.
This is probably one of the main reasons I chose OSU over other colleges I
was offered acceptance. OSU is close enough that I can go home with no plane
ticket, but far enough away that I can’t go home every weekend. This allows me
to have what I think will be a nice balance between school and home time.
9. The vast amount of
“stuff”.
There is an organization/club/sponsored event for anything I could ever
want. They tell incoming or prospective students this, and I didn’t believe
them until I got here. I found 5 clubs I wanted to join, but decided to focus
on just 3. These give me something to look forward to, connections to other
students, and connections to internships/future employers. The connections at
Ohio State are crazy, in a good way.
10. My dorm.
I live in one of the newest and best dorms on campus. We have AC which
works so well I have to turn it down sometimes. We also have laundry and
kitchen facilities in the basement. We have elevators that work 99% of the
time, and everyone that I see in the hallway or lobby says hi.
11. I have a job.
Dining Services has a somewhat tricky process to work through, but once I
did, it was very easy for me to get a job. I aced the interview, and instantly
fell in love with the place. So much so, that since my interviewer offered me a
job at the end of the interview I cancelled the second interview for a
different job that I had scheduled for later that day. The paperwork got messed
up so I lost a week of work, but I can look at that as an opportunity to delve
into organizations even more to test the waters before I don’t have the time.
12. My advisor is
awesome.
My advisor, Meg, is a sweet and thoughtful lady. Freshmen can’t sign
themselves up for classes, so she helped me out of a pinch when I was dropped
unexpectedly from a course. I know that if I ever have questions with literally
anything college-related, she will be willing to help me, even though she advises
over a hundred students.
13. I enjoy going to
class.
Yes, I’m at a party school. Yes, I have met some pretty awesome people. But
my classes are interesting and I enjoy going to lecture. Every day, I learn
something new, or think about a different perspective on something I already
knew about. This is something that has been a great change from High School,
where I went to class because I had to. The information was taught so I would
pass a test (not the teachers’ fault) and so there was less enjoyment.
14. Snacks
This one should be self-explanatory, but I’m a poor college student. Free
stuff is good. Free food? Even better! Normally meetings include free snacks if
you stick through the whole thing, and that is pretty much the best incentive
ever.
15. You’re bound to
see a familiar face.
OSU is a big, well-accredited university. For this reason, I am not the
only person from my area to choose OSU. I ran into two people from a local high school during a First Year Connections meeting. One of them was involved in Academic
Challenge, one of my favorite sports, and so I had met him before, just in passing of course. But the fact
that there are people that I have connections with is very comforting.
Well that was fun. I had to dig
deep, but I found more than I needed. Once you focus on the good parts of OSU,
they seem to jump out at you. I’ll be fine after all J Because you made it this far, have some cookies.
