It's been a month since my last post already?! That's crazy. Seems like just a month ago I was spittin' game about my really long hallway and incredibly clever decorating efforts.
Oh.
Well anyway, it's 10 minutes before my birthday, I'm turning 21, and I'm at college. Might as well post about how school has gone so far. Balancing classes and the RA job is a struggle but I get work done. Everyone knows how boring and awful classes are so I'll focus on the latter item there, the more fun part :).
My residents have been great lately. Sometimes they're a bit noisy, but I think given my residence hall's reputation for sort of wild and crazy kids I've done a decent job of keeping them on the straight and narrow, if I do say so myself. They do go out a lot, but that'll happen everywhere you pack 52 18-year-olds into a pretty small space. I haven't had to call the police or paramedics yet, so that's something.
Most of my residents go about their daily business without guidance from me but I do make an effort to talk to at least 3/4 of them twice a day, either about official school things or just to hang out. Those efforts paid off in a huge way last night. I have this annoying problem where I try not to mention my birthday in the weeks leading up to it, but I end up telling everyone I know a week ahead of time anyway. Well, one of my residents works at Hallmark. I was sitting in my room with the door closed yesterday. When I tried to leave, I couldn't, as my residents just wouldn't let me. Eventually they did and I found this:
No other RA that I've seen in my 2+ years here has had their door decorated by their residents on their birthday. It meant so much to me and I gave everyone involved a big hug. To amuse myself I will provide an image of some of those people here as well:
I caught a cold this week which has put a damper on the celebration but I don't care. It really showed they gave at least half a crap about me which meant all my work is paying off. Inside the little bag there I found lots of candy and birthday cards signed by the people who helped decorate and other random roommates. My parents and grandma are coming down tomorrow (actually today! I'm so wasted! Whoo!) so I can show them I've not been wasting my time here. Life is pretty cool sometimes.
Awwww man! That was the sweetest post ever. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy. It's amazing to see how much people appreciate your efforts. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often. Enjoy it; you've definitely earned it. And happy belated birthday!!!
Posted by: Tania | October 19, 2008 at 05:33 PM
Great post. I have to say I'm jealous, and regretting being a non-trad student a little bit. I never had the res. hall experience, and I haven't taken classes at a large University yet so its good to read about the rewards and challenges, makes me stoked to go to CSU. Pretty sweet that you're willing to do the small things that make a difference, and sounds like your teaching others to do the same, life is cool isn't it!
Posted by: Brandon Devlin | January 16, 2009 at 12:19 PM