Originally, this article was going to be a satire on how “great” I thought Mills was—essentially a bitchfest of complaints, digressions, and an underlying plot of the my desperate need to transfer. After reading it to some of my floor mates, they all stared at the carpet and muttered in unison, “That is so sad.”
At that point, I realized I was doing something wrong–and it was sad. Before I came here I pumped myself up with the idea that Mills would be what I made of it, and in my first month here I essentially failed to make my experience what I wanted. I retreated to my room instead of socializing, didn’t address issues amongst my teammates, and clung too tightly to my life back home.
Since that sad reading, I have taken a proactive steps to make my life at Mills into what I want. By reaching out to people, I learned that I’m not the only woman who is homesick and lonely—I was able to join together with people and finally make some friends. I joined the volleyball team, I stopped pouting and keeping to myself and am trying very hard to win the respect of the women on my team. Instead of counting down to November, I am trying to make the best out of every game, practice, and team-bonding outing.
I forgot that college was about learning to live and function with dynamic, new groups of people–classes aren’t just composed of random strangers. When I reached out to my fellow classmates I received more help and positive responses than I could have ever imagined alone in my room. Remember, you are never alone and the people around you are an asset—use them–in a mutually beneficial way, of course!
