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| First day of school! First day of school! |
Here I am in my second year of college already. Wow. Time
has flown by so quickly—I feel like the last time I blinked was when the ride
attendant for College: Year One was
reciting the usual “keep your hands,
feet, and other objects inside the cart at all times. Oh, and enjoy the ride”. You may not have noticed the intense speed of
last year/this summer while chained between school bells and physical education
requirements, but I certainly have noticed it considering my third semester of
classes started about, oh, a few hours ago.
I’ve been at Murray since Wednesday (about 6 days ago), and
already my year differs from coming in as “fresh meat”. You ready for the differences? Get prepared
because I am about to SHOOT straight with you (follow the BULLET points…hehe):
·
Think you’re busy as a freshman? When you’re a
sophomore you’ll probably be involved in some sort of organization that wants
to make the incoming freshmen feel welcome (News Flash: That includes ALL
organizations). Yes, helping other people settle in is fun stuff, but you’ll be
pulled in every direction possible.
·
Not as many free things for sophomores! I swear,
the only time someone has actually realized I’m older than I look—I wanted a
free t-shirt and the guy screeched “THEY ARE JUST FOR FRESHMEN!!!” Yeesh.
·
You have better room selection. My room is
AMAZING J
One girl walked by, poked her head in, and asked, “Are you all handicapped or
something!?” We have a giant room. 
·
You’ll notice that all the friends you have that
are girls will no longer be buying the basic things while preparing for
school—they will buy more decorative things for school! I already had all the
basics from last year (bedding, fan, measuring tape, pens/pencils, ect.), so
this year I got to bring a ton of pinterest projects and other decorations. You
might do that, too, but I doubt it.
·
I’ve actually stopped taking general education
classes, and have started on my major classes, which is a pretty great feeling.
Technically I should have spread out those easy gen-ed classes between my hard
major classes, but I didn’t understand that memo until too late. I think I’ll
be alright though.
·
I’m not sure if this next point is due to the
fact that I will see you all so many weekends in a row this semester (yay for
weddings), or the fact that I have already done this once before, but moving in
and saying goodbye this year was a lot easier. I didn’t even cry in the middle
of Culvers. Can I get a woop woop?
Some things about this year have surprised me so far. There
were several things I thought would be different this year than last year, but
there are also several things that haven’t changed at all. For me, one of those
things that has both changed and not changed this year has to do with
friendships and relationships. Honestly, I know a lot more people on campus
this year, but not nearly as many as I would like to know.
I don’t tell many people this, but when I am walking down a
busy hall or place where I should know a bunch of people (I used to do this all
the time in high school) I like to play a game with myself. I count all of the
people who pass by me, and while I’m counting I check and see if I know their
name (not just know their face, I HAVE to know their name). The goal is to see
if I can know the name of at least one in every ten people. By my senior year
at Ravenwood, I could usually do one in every four pretty consistently.
On my way to class this morning I was trying to play this
game—thinking that I knew a ton of the new freshmen’s names, the names of people
in several organizations I’m involved with, and really just thinking the game
wouldn’t be very difficult today. So, I started counting and by the time I got
to ten I was a bit sad I hadn’t seen anyone so far, but I continued to count
more faces and more faces and more…
I made it all the way to 92 before I saw my friend Brittany.
NINETY-TWO. That’s pretty much the
highest number I’ve ever gotten to in my own little game. And this is not
basketball-style. This is golf-style. (Do you like my sports references? Why,
yes thank you, I AM dating the sports editor) I was really disappointed in
myself—I mean, seriously, why doesn't Murray have a path solely for the people I know!? Really though, 92 unknown names is a terrible record.
I’ve decided I really need to get to work on meeting more
people on campus this year. Last year, my goal was to get settled, to figure
campus out, and to try not to get lost along the way. I sort of just planted
myself on campus last year. Yes, I attended Murray State University. And yes, I
met people all over campus in the various organizations I participated in.
Maybe that was good enough for my freshman year, but this year I want to really
get to know more faces and more names and more stories. This year I don’t want to just settle into
campus. I want to grab ahold of friends and make ties/connections/roots on the
Murray State campus. I know I can’t get to know all 12,000 stories, but I’d at least
like to get started on the faces. Like I learned from your freshman ADS speech, a smile and a “hey Josh” is much better than a “Hey jen—sal—lucy—umm…hey
Friend!”.
Anyway, I’m telling you my goal for the year so that I can
be reminded of it, but also to encourage you to try the same thing in
Ravenwood. I mean, maybe at the end of the year we can compare notes. Although
there are a lot more MSU students than RHS students, so I better get started.
Besides, if I don’t do that, then no one will be able to ask
you, “Hey! Aren’t you Maddie Mucci’s brother?” and where would be the fun in
that!?
Love,
Maddie “Friend” Mucci
