An Ode to The First Year of College (Chapter 3)

(Photo Taken By: http://www.academyart.edu/admissions/620sutter.html)


After reading the story "An Ode to Loved Labors Lost" by Tom Brokaw, it brought me back to my first year of college.

It was the Fall of 2005 I was fresh out of high school and 18 years old ready to take on the world. I decided to attend the Academy of Art University in San Francisco which was hours away from home northern California. It was a completely different world, at first I thought what am I doing out here, but once I got there I felt in place. I was the first to move into the brand new dorms that were just finished being built. I was anxious to see who else would be living here and around me. Since I was the only person there I had to sleep in a near by hotel till everyone moved in the next morning. So the next day had come and it was time to get back to my dorm and to meet everyone.

As I arrived to my room floor I realized there were only guys on my floor moving in and out the rooms with boxes. At first I thought I was on the wrong floor but as I went back into the elevator it was the right floor. I was assigned a room that happened to be on an all guys floor. I was out of my element, and after our first floor meeting I realized they were all older then me, I was the youngest. So some of there conversations weren't really things I was interested in or educated about. And they were always able to go out and party and drink but I was to young at the time, so the bond wasn't really there.

During the day it really wasn't a problem for me because I was in classes and on campus I met a lot of people and friends, that I could hang out with, but they lived in other dorms. Once it was time to go back to the dorms I felt alone and by myself because boys wanted to be boys and I'm not a boy so I couldn't relate to some things they did or say. But I do believe the experience helped me realize things don't always work out the way you imagine them. And the time there did help me mature more and learn how to live and deal with different situations on my own, and not always calling my mom and dad for help.