THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190115
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DACRIE BROOKS, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
IT WAS devastating.
There I stood in a room with two strangers, a sink and a bed. No parents. No curfews. No possibility of a 10-minute lecture on doing my homework. It was just me, these two strange people and a room filled with cardboard boxes.
So this was it? This was college?
Before I came here, I had it all planned out. I would go to class, do all of the homework and shoot for a 3.5 grade-point average for fall semester. I would not procrastinate, skip classes, eat fatty foods late at night or wait until I was down to my last pair of socks to do the laundry.
Wrong. Things aren't that easy.
There is no college handbook or instruction manual that could have prepared me for living in a women's college dorm. I wasn't prepared to be placed in a room the size of a sardine can with two strangers. We disagreed on what would go where and it turned out that almost half of my stuff went back home because there just wasn't enough room.
As much as I would have liked everything to work out, it just didn't happen. In fact, things got worse.
The first week of classes weren't finished before I met with catastrophe. I was hot, tired and my body was aching from climbing up and down the outside stairs on my way to classes. So I decided to make things a little easier, instead of hiking the stairs I would walk through those tiny green bushes. This was a bad idea. I slipped in the bushes, fell flat on my derriere, cut myself on a bush and be rushed to the clinic for an allergy shot.
Soon after, I became quite popular around campus. I was the freshman who fell into the bushes and broke out in hives.
It was times like that when I wanted to do one of two things: crawl under a rock to hide or go home.
When I discovered going home was no longer an option, I started missing the things that annoyed me the most. I missed my sister begging me to let her wear my clothes. I missed telling my brother to shut up. And somehow I missed my mom nagging me to do my home-work.
I was stunned by the revelation that I, of all people, had become homesick. The more I looked at the room, the sadder I became. These weren't my walls. This wasn't my sink. And this unbearable twin mattress couldn't come close to my futon at home.
As I sat on the bed that day and stared at the off-white walls, I thought about how I could no longer come home from a hard day at school and tell Mom about it. I couldn't sneak into the kitchen to taste Mom's home-cooked spaghetti. God knows I was tired of eating cafeteria food and snacking on Ramen noodles.
I stood up, looked in the mirror and my mouth fell to the floor. Was it just me or had I gained weight?
It was me. It was 13 pounds. Not only was I miles away from home, but I was fat girl miles away from home. Tears streamed down my face.
``Quit feeling sorry for yourself,'' I murmured.
I grabbed some Kleenex, did what I could to stop the tears and decided to do my laundry. I guess I had been so busy adjusting that it hadn't dawned on me that I was down to my last pair of clean socks. And I guess I wasn't alone because all of the washing machines were taken.
By the time I finished eight loads, it was past midnight. I scarfed down a Papa John's pizza, procrastinated about doing homework and thought about skipping French class.
Later I tried to be more objective. I am at an women's college which means no distractions, no men and no makeup. I wake up, hop in the shower, throw on a pair of sweats and a baseball cap and go to class.
Before coming here, I didn't dwell on the disadvantages. They have come into sharp focus. I am surrounded by women all day, every day. I miss seeing members of the opposite sex. I get PMS at the exact same time as my roommates.
I have learned a lot in a semester. Someone once told me that college would be the most exciting, adventurous and unpredictable time of my life. Ain't that the truth! ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Dacrie Brooks is a freshman at Mary Baldwin College.
by CNB