2008 Woodie Awards
A first-year's first impressions
Megan Gallo
Issue date: 9/5/06 Section: Features
As I reached the top of the hill, two things simultaneously made me catch my breath: my lack of lung capacity and the grand view of the lake. After this spectacle, I vowed to try to run every day - just for that view.
Two days earlier, I was also catching my breath, but the situation was not so majestic. Exhausted, starving and soaked, my mother and I carted the entirety of my belongings to the third floor of my permanent residential house. I was miserable. It certainly did not help that I was painfully nervous about living four hours away from my family, friends, dogs and the comforts of home as a whole. However, I had long anticipated this day, counted down the days until my entire summer calendar was filled with Xs.
Finally, the proverbial D-day had arrived. Just a few hours later, it was time to say goodbye and embark on my educational journey.
Since I would be participating in the Leadership Pre-Orientation, I could not entirely unpack my numerous boxes. Instead, with a map in my back pocket, I made my way down to my temporary house and set up a makeshift room that would last me two nights.
The program was enormously helpful with everything from self-actualization to networking into the various organizations on campus. It also helped that the coordinators, Maria Coolican and Jeannette Jackson (a Smith alumna) of TransForum Consulting, Inc., were incredibly comforting and personable. President Carol Christ even came to speak to us about her life experiences. I kept thinking to myself, "Where else would the president of the school actually come and speak to the students?" It was amazing! Gradually, I calmed my nerves and started to realize that Smith College was, indeed, the perfect place I had anticipated it to be.
Nevertheless, the rigid plastic bed upon which I slept that night definitely made me keep some of that homesickness - at least until I got to my permanent room and realized that it was a good thing I had invested in a thick mattress pad.
Two days earlier, I was also catching my breath, but the situation was not so majestic. Exhausted, starving and soaked, my mother and I carted the entirety of my belongings to the third floor of my permanent residential house. I was miserable. It certainly did not help that I was painfully nervous about living four hours away from my family, friends, dogs and the comforts of home as a whole. However, I had long anticipated this day, counted down the days until my entire summer calendar was filled with Xs.
Finally, the proverbial D-day had arrived. Just a few hours later, it was time to say goodbye and embark on my educational journey.
Since I would be participating in the Leadership Pre-Orientation, I could not entirely unpack my numerous boxes. Instead, with a map in my back pocket, I made my way down to my temporary house and set up a makeshift room that would last me two nights.
The program was enormously helpful with everything from self-actualization to networking into the various organizations on campus. It also helped that the coordinators, Maria Coolican and Jeannette Jackson (a Smith alumna) of TransForum Consulting, Inc., were incredibly comforting and personable. President Carol Christ even came to speak to us about her life experiences. I kept thinking to myself, "Where else would the president of the school actually come and speak to the students?" It was amazing! Gradually, I calmed my nerves and started to realize that Smith College was, indeed, the perfect place I had anticipated it to be.
Nevertheless, the rigid plastic bed upon which I slept that night definitely made me keep some of that homesickness - at least until I got to my permanent room and realized that it was a good thing I had invested in a thick mattress pad.
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