Time was slowly being consumed and everything I had been working for as well as the whole UNO Multi-Cultural Affairs office was finally coming together and to life. As I prepared myself to take part of the true college experience questions arose. Doubts of the many possibilities of what could happen began to fill and over flow my confused brain. One of those components of experiencing college was living on campus. Even though we were only going to live on campus a short period of time this section of the program was the one that first came to mind and sparked the greatest variation and quantity of questions and doubts. What would happen if I went to the bathroom while someone else wanted too? Worse yet, what would happen in the toilet over flowed? Questions began to pop like cooking popcorn. I was so excited to meet my roommates but most importantly to get away from home, but yet I was nervous about the same things.
As I walked into my comfortable but yet rather blank suite I realized some of my roommates had already arrived but did not really get to meet them as we were all rushing to take part of the exciting Camp Carol Joy Holling. As we unloaded the bus I became “Super Fly”, my team name, and encountered not only my group members but also forty-five new summer scholar faces. During the intense hours spent at the camp I was not only able to meet new people but also see how everyone at different paces stepped out of their comfort zone and not only grew individually but also as a “Super Fly” group. As I committed to the team fifty-foot challenge course I slowly stripped out of my “diva” face into another member of the group working to obtain the ultimate prize of going down the zip line. I began to acknowledge how members who were once scared began to encourage and support those who still were. After satisfaction over flowed our sweaty and tired bodies our fifty-foot challenge no longer matter, the only thing that came to mine was FOOD. I was able to bond with my fellow summer scholars in various ways whether it was fifty feet in the air, on a rock-climbing wall, at the lunch benches, or simply on the grass.
During camp I was able to get to know some but not all of my roommates but it was only a matter of time. Stretching out of my comfort zone did not only take place in the challenge courses but also getting to know and exploring the various perspectives that my roommates allowed me to experience. At first I was a little scared about upsetting one of my roommates as I tend to not think before I speak. I always wondered how they were going to be like. I also did not want anything to go absolutely wrong or embarrassing, like breaking the toilet. The RTA’s did a fabulous job of making sure we did not know each other putting me in a different environment. An environment that made me not only think but to a certain point stress about all the possibilities of what could go wrong, as I also tend to be a little negative.
Of course, I did not break of overflow the toilet. All the stress and worries began to diminish as I began to know all my nice and awesome roommates. I noticed that all I had to worry about was basically common sense things like flushing the toilet. Even though we did share things in common every one of us did have our own different world that made things interesting. During the six days in Scott Hall I got to know all my roommates personalities but also understand and encounter different points of views that broadened my spectrum. All of those different views helped me grow and expand. From this positive experience I am able to have a sense of what it will be like when my freshmen year in college.This whole experience helped me get a feel of what the real “mojo” means.
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