August 29, 2009 was destined to be one of the most hectic days of my life. Moving in as a freshman, overpacking or underpacking, my mother crying about her “baby growing up,” and certainly not knowing where I was going, was just destined to be a complete recipe for chaos. Yet, it was not.
Although the rain certainly did not help, the day was filled with smiling faces and plenty of shopping carts filled with junk. Upperclassmen and parents alike aided my classmates and me into our dorm rooms. Together we unpacked and unloaded clothes, TVs and supersized boxes of Ramen noodles. The day had definitely gone smoother than planned, and led me to a new belief that college was not going to be one bit like I, or any of my 900 classmates expected.
So the past two weeks have certainly been interesting ones, filled with major life changes. Roommate? Barone food? Nine-page long syllabuses? Certainly a change from my row home in Philadelphia, home cooked meals, and small all-girls high school. Yet my classmates and I have certainly taken on these challenges like true Stags. I’ve seen new best friends made from roommates, and the creative culinary arts come to life in the skillet corner of Barone. I am more secure knowing that that my fellow classmates are all more excited about their nine-page syllabuses than anything else new to their lifestyle.
After our first two weeks here at Fairfield, it is obvious that the freshmen class is already beginning to feel at home. Just yesterday I witnessed three freshmen walking across the quad towards Campion barefoot, as if the grass was their carpet. Last week we all saw freshman Craig McHaffie, painted head to toe in red body paint with a white ’13 on his chest screaming his lungs out at last Friday’s men’s soccer game.
And every weekend night, someone has spotted a group of freshmen dressed up, walking to the townhouses or catching a cab to the beach. The Class of 2013 has definitely been successful in assimilating to its new college life and growing with its newfound freedom.
So what’s next, freshmen? We’ve got two weeks behind us, and eight months ahead. Eight months to show each other and our upperclassmen what we’ve got. So get out there and get noticed. Be “that freshman,” and let’s live up what we’ve been waiting for, for months.
Fairfield 2013, we are finally home.
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