Edit desk: Finding the way

Abby Johnson, B&W Staff

For most students, spring semester marked the start of round two – a continuation of the school year that began last fall. But for spring admits and transfer students, this semester is square one, the beginning of their journey here at Lehigh. As a transfer student, it is a position that I myself was in at this time last year. And though the path was somewhat bumpy at first, I sure am glad I stuck around for the ride.

I can easily say that leaving my old university and coming to Lehigh was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve become friends with so many awesome people and now this campus feels like home. So much so that I sometimes forget about the three semesters I spent elsewhere. But despite my newfound love for all things brown and white, my acclimation to campus life was less than conventional. While most people meet their friends at parties or in the hallways of their dorms, I found mine in the search to alleviate all the ways in which the administration had left me desperately unprepared. I had accepted my admission offer in late November, paid the first tuition and housing bills in early December, and registered for classes shortly thereafter. So why wasn’t anybody prepared for my arrival?

I spent my first day on campus going from building to building. Residential Services to claim my housing assignment; they didn’t have the keys. Campus Mail to learn my box number; I didn’t have one. The bookstore to pick up my textbooks; they had never placed the order. My fellow beginners were having trouble, as well. Schedules with incorrect classes, meal plans that had been paid for but showed a balance of zero, emails to academic advisers that had yet to be given a response. Classes started and we sat together in the dining halls, bonding over the stress of being somewhere new and unfamiliar without guidance. A place where all others were comfortably settled in and too busy to notice those who were struggling amid the bustle. We were on the outskirts, together overcoming the administration’s seemingly complete disregard for its own kind.

And we became friends. A connection that formed from unifying frustration and utter confusion transformed into a connection based on late-night movies and FIFA tournaments. Conversations about class-waitlists and missing transcripts turned into conversations about Chicken Finger Fridays and Shrek. Spoons and Grand Theft Auto. The Theory and The Patriot. We no longer sought each other’s company so as not to be alone. We sought it because we liked being together. And we still do.

I thought of all this, the struggle and the friendship that ensued, as I waited in line at the mail center during the first week of the semester. Three girls stood behind me, trying to figure out how to pick up their packages. It was an innocent question that I had also had when I was in their shoes. I knew the chaos of knowing absolutely nothing– and the rewards of finding my way.

Now, in our third semester, we are settled. We are part of the bustle. We are part of Lehigh. We have expanded our reach, befriended some who were here before us and some who came after us. But we are forever connected by the label that defined our first weeks: We are forever spring admits.

And how do we feel about that label now? We “Shake It Off.” Because it’s how we found each other.