Rite of Passage

At the end of last year, I remember hearing all the upperclassmen share how towards the end of summer you would grow antsy to get back to Wilson. I can now attest to this feeling with personal experience. I was so excited to go home to Upstate New York for the summer, to see family and friends, and to take a break from school work. But as soon as I bought my ticket back to the mountainous Swannanoa, I began to feel anxious to see my friends and just be on campus.

After getting up at three in the morning to catch my flight and spending all day in airports, it was so comforting to come around the corner and see the famous red barn in the field with the large WWC in white. I then carried my heavy suitcases into my new home of Ballfield B, to bump into one of my best friends. There was a sigh of relief. It felt so right to be back, and after one day I felt like I had never left.

All summer I answered the question of, “How was your first year at school?” I always felt I wasn’t doing Wilson justice with my response of “amazing.” However, I never could think of a way to show everyone how much I’ve grown and all the experiences I’ve had since moving away from home. I have truly grown as a person, from doing my own laundry when the bin is full to experiences which have given me a different outlook on the world.

I am now comfortably in a routine, which consists of classes, work, study, meals in Cowpie with friends, more studying, and tea time in the late evenings to wind down, before more studying. It was unbelievably nice to fall back into my typical duties on the Admission Crew, answering the phone, giving tours, and catching up. However I know friends who switched from working in the Work Program Office to Farm Crew and from Admission to Plumbing. To hear their new stories of learning something new has been great!

All in all it is “amazing” to be back! And I will always consider Wilson as a home away from home.

Andrea