GRAW!!! Hang me up by my toenails!
I feel so guilty about not writing recently, but getting into the swing of things here has been more difficult than I thought it would be. School is now wrapping up its second week, and I think I will actually have time to write regularly.
One of the biggest things that I have learned is that dorm life really challenges a person in every aspect of their life. Especially when that person is an RA. First of all, there's the obscene time commitments. As if it wasn't bad enough that I am taking 12 credit hours of graduate classes, I also have to devote 10 hours a week to having my door open for residents to come to me with any problems (which they NEVER do - fortunately there haven't been any major problems on my floor yet), and then on top of that we have bi-weekly one on one meetings with the resident director, and weekly staff meetings. Then on top of that, I have decided to judge debate again this year, and instead of just judging, the district has asked me if I will schedule and tabulate the Public Forum section of the tournaments. This means an increased time commitment to the tournaments, as well as increased responsibility.
Then, if a person is able to deal with the time commitments, they then have to worry about the CRAPPY CAFETERIA FOOD and how it messes with your digestive system. I think my body has finally adjusted to it, but lets just say Immodium AD became my best friend for about a week. Once the body gets used to the food, it's actually not bad, except for the COMPLETE lack of variety. There is like one dish that is different from day to day, and most of the time it's something I wouldn't want to eat, so I end up getting stuck with grilled ham and cheese sandwiches (because I choose not to eat the hamburgers, hot dogs, or pizza everyday).
And finally, if a person has been able to deal with all of that, there is the mental stress. I'm in an interesting position, being a first year graduate student, and living in the dorm for the first time. I'm 24, and just as new to this building as the 18 year old freshmen (can you believe that they were born in 85 and in 86 in some cases???) It's been great being able to just walk down the hall and find someone to hang out with, instead of having to plan a big outing that requires weeks of e-mailing and stuff. Instead of calling each other and setting a time to go out, you just walk down the hall, poke your head in, and say "let's go." I'm still getting used to that.
THEN, there's all the women! Boy oh boy...what's a guy supposed to do when there is so many single XX chromosomes running around the building. And for once, I'm not shy. Maybe that's because I live in such close proximity with these people. I just know that I'm not afraid to go and tell a girl here how I feel. I'm just worried that I might be sending mixed signals to people. That's always been a concern of mine. But then again, maybe the signals might be mixed because my thought process is mixed. How I feel about someone today isn't necessarially how I felt about them yesterday, nor how I will feel about them tomorrow. I'm just afraid of jumping into something too soon.
Anyways, I didn't mean this post to be this long, but for those of you who put up with it, thank you! :) I hope life is well for everyone. Maybe one of these days I will actually catch up on all of my August and September reading that I have missed.
One of the biggest things that I have learned is that dorm life really challenges a person in every aspect of their life. Especially when that person is an RA. First of all, there's the obscene time commitments. As if it wasn't bad enough that I am taking 12 credit hours of graduate classes, I also have to devote 10 hours a week to having my door open for residents to come to me with any problems (which they NEVER do - fortunately there haven't been any major problems on my floor yet), and then on top of that we have bi-weekly one on one meetings with the resident director, and weekly staff meetings. Then on top of that, I have decided to judge debate again this year, and instead of just judging, the district has asked me if I will schedule and tabulate the Public Forum section of the tournaments. This means an increased time commitment to the tournaments, as well as increased responsibility.
Then, if a person is able to deal with the time commitments, they then have to worry about the CRAPPY CAFETERIA FOOD and how it messes with your digestive system. I think my body has finally adjusted to it, but lets just say Immodium AD became my best friend for about a week. Once the body gets used to the food, it's actually not bad, except for the COMPLETE lack of variety. There is like one dish that is different from day to day, and most of the time it's something I wouldn't want to eat, so I end up getting stuck with grilled ham and cheese sandwiches (because I choose not to eat the hamburgers, hot dogs, or pizza everyday).
And finally, if a person has been able to deal with all of that, there is the mental stress. I'm in an interesting position, being a first year graduate student, and living in the dorm for the first time. I'm 24, and just as new to this building as the 18 year old freshmen (can you believe that they were born in 85 and in 86 in some cases???) It's been great being able to just walk down the hall and find someone to hang out with, instead of having to plan a big outing that requires weeks of e-mailing and stuff. Instead of calling each other and setting a time to go out, you just walk down the hall, poke your head in, and say "let's go." I'm still getting used to that.
THEN, there's all the women! Boy oh boy...what's a guy supposed to do when there is so many single XX chromosomes running around the building. And for once, I'm not shy. Maybe that's because I live in such close proximity with these people. I just know that I'm not afraid to go and tell a girl here how I feel. I'm just worried that I might be sending mixed signals to people. That's always been a concern of mine. But then again, maybe the signals might be mixed because my thought process is mixed. How I feel about someone today isn't necessarially how I felt about them yesterday, nor how I will feel about them tomorrow. I'm just afraid of jumping into something too soon.
Anyways, I didn't mean this post to be this long, but for those of you who put up with it, thank you! :) I hope life is well for everyone. Maybe one of these days I will actually catch up on all of my August and September reading that I have missed.