This Campbell Camel has officially placed the orange and black to the side and picked up the black and yellow of the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
Currently, I am surrounded by trees and water fountains as I sit in the Solarium of Plemmons Student Union, one of the most peaceful places to study or to just relax. This marks the official end to my first week at App State and I sit going over my calendar for the next week and I am enjoying this time of planning and reflection.
This photo was taken by the wonderful Eric Ortiz while we were hiking at Hebron Rock Colony on Friday and was edited with a cool app called Prisma
Leaving Campbell, I knew to expect basically a new world here in Boone, NC...however there are many aspects of life I did not know would be different.
For starters, there are A LOT of people here, all of the time, practically wherever you are. I knew to expect a lot more students, but you do not really know what that looks like until you walk through the main part of campus around the class change at lunch time - it is literal madness trying to weave through everyone.
Secondly, it has rained every single day I have been here. Maybe it was a little sprinkle, maybe it poured for a few solid hours, but either way, it rained. A junior I met a few days ago made the comment that it is never smart to leave your dorm/apartment/house without a raincoat or umbrella because the forecast is never trustworthy.
Finally, I am learning that at App, the school is very much interested in making any person feel welcome and at home. In our first dorm meetings (we meet as a floor), my RA spent more time asking us how we wanted the floor to operate - what we were comfortable with people wearing, how we wanted to see the hall bathrooms treated, how we wanted to deal with conflicts as a floor - it was very different to most other meetings of this nature. We didn't spend an hour listening to all of the school rules, we spent time learning about the school rules and we spent time deciding on our own for our living space.
There are tons and tons of ways to communicate the difference between where I am now and what I was previously used to, and neither way is right or wrong, or better or worse - both schools are working to adjust to their personal student body and what that student body needs/wants/expects.
I am beyond excited about what this school year will hold for me in spiritual, academic, and personal growth.
