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College has been a totally different experience for me. I come from a high school of just 613 students. Where everyone knew everyone. We were all part of a community and we all lived within a 2 mile radius of each other. College has been much different. There are 13,000 students coming from all over the world to Baruch, the most diverse school in the United States. I grew up with basically the same class mates from kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade. There was never a need to go out there and meet people. There was never a need to introduce yourself and get to know one another. But in college that is a necessity. At my high school everyone was of the same religion as opposed to a public school where kids were of all different races and religions. Coming from such a close knit high school was nice, because its good to know everyone and you make some really close friends however it does pose some challenges when going to college. I remember sitting there at orientation. Just sitting. Not going out there and meeting people. I had the opportunity but the feeling of uncertainty held me back. Maybe if there was a real ice breaker things would have been different, however that’s in the past. Its time to focus on the future. And in the future I will go out and meet as many people as possible because I’d rather not remember the day that once was.
on October 7th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
I graduated with a class of 60 students, most of whom I had been in school with since first grade, so I can relate to your story! The only way to break the ice with other people is to break it yourself: introduce yourself, ask the person sitting next to you a question, hang out in the Honors study room or Weinstein lounge, join a club. It’s important to extend yourself, to reach out to others, to set aside your own (very natural) fears and say hi to someone new. Let me know how it goes!