Lian O'Connell
FSU Student
TWO DAYS
MONDAY.
I’m rushing to my classes all while thinking about how his are going. This is the first time in four years we won’t see each other at 8 am every day. Our routine has been broken.
As soon as 5:00 hits, I whip out my phone when I know his classes are over and text him.
So how was your first day? (5 pm) It was all right. You? (5:02 pm)
Same. Do you want to Facetime? (5:06 pm)
Yeah, sure! I’ll call you. (5:08 pm)
I open up my computer and sit down and press connect. In just a few moments, I see his face pop up on to the screen. It’s weird seeing a whiteboard behind him instead of his typical room back home with posters filling the walls. It feels different. But then he says, “hello” and I instantly feel better. I say hello back and we talk for almost an hour about everything that happened today. It feels nice when everything around us seems to be speeding by, we can press a button on the screen, see each other’s face and life seems to slow down for just a moment. At the end of the conversation, I press end call, close the top of my laptop and for some reason can’t help but feeling somewhat empty again after it all. In a time frame of 10 minutes, we were able to send text messages back and forth to each other and just as fast as were are able to press the send button, it seemed like that’s how fast our call ended. Even though I wish the conversation could carry on forever, we both know there are other things we have to get done.
I sit in my room and write down in my planner all of the things I have to get done that week: get my textbooks, go and buy groceries, and to checkout the club fair. I know I need to get involved and stay busy if there’s any chance of me surviving being away from my boyfriend and family for two months.
TUESDAY.
It’s the second day. I don’t have classes, so I decide to go explore
the campus. There’s a booth situated perfectly near the integration
statue in the heart of campus. People are dressed in t-shirts with the
letters “CRU” across the front and they’re handing out free Chick-fil-a
coupons if you fill out a survey. That sucks me in. I ask them what their
organization is while thinking about the free chicken sandwich
I’m about to go eat. However, after I leave, I do heavily consider going
to check out more. When I go back to my dorm, I search for their
Facebook page and see this:
There wasn’t any other information listed other than that which interested me even more. I asked my friend if she wanted to check it out with me and we decided to go to the first meeting. We walked in and instantly I could feel the positive energy filling the room. There was music followed by a speaker, who was actually from my hometown, and that made me feel more confortable. We filled out another survey so the leaders could get to know us more. I already felt better because I was starting to put my information out there and had a weekly service to attend now. I started to feel like I was finding my place. I decided to call my mom about it.
Hey, Mom!
Hey sweetie, how’s everything going?
Pretty good! Hope and I went to a thing called CRU tonight.
I liked it a lot.
I think we’re planning on going every week now.
That’s great! I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I can’t wait to hear more about it.
We hang up and I go to sleep feeling content with how things are shaping up. I think about the next organization meeting I want to attend. I remember seeing a booth during the Summer and decide to check out their Facebook as well.
Lo and behold, it was another survey I had to fill out. I didn’t really expect to be filling out so many, but I liked how I could put my information out there in a simple and quick way. I went to the first meeting and met many people who shared the same interests as me. Again, it was a comforting feeling being surrounded by people who I could relate to.
The first couple of days of college were new, exciting, adventurous,
stressful, and any other emotion you can think of. I decided to
start off telling my journey with the biggest challenge I had
getting adjusted to college, being away from my boyfriend.
I wanted my readers to understand, from the very beginning,
that even though I was here at Florida State, my mind was
somewhere else. However, my intended audience was
obviously, my boyfriend. I am constantly using texting and
Facetime to communicate with him. I recreated an actual
snapshot of a text and decided to post the times the messages were sent to show how fast messages can be sent back and forth. The speed of it is what helps us feel like we’re still apart of each other’s lives and it also helped me feel more comfortable since there was someone I could talk to who was familiar. However, even though we could communicate as if we were physically together having a conversation, it lacked the intimacy. Facetime is what helped cut down on that since we could hear each other’s voice and see each other’s face. It made the conversation and feelings deeper vs when were just staring at a screen with words on it. Our tone when we texted was rather casual, but when we facetimed it felt happier and cheerful.
Still, even with someone to talk to that was familiar back home whom I could share my experiences with, I wanted to put myself out there more and connect with those who had similar interests. When I saw the CRU booth, I didn’t take it seriously at first since
food is what enticed me to go fill out a survey. Once I learned about who they were as an organization and saw their Facebook page where I could obtain more information, I was intrigued. They didn’t give out too much information though, as seen in the screenshot, and that’s what made me check it out. I filled out another survey once I got there, giving more details about myself. I’ve filled out many surveys before, but this was for a new purpose. It was to become connected with those around me. My audience shifted not to my boyfriend or my family, but to a group of people whom I really didn’t know. I went from using digital communications to using communication via a piece of paper. I continued to use Facebook to look up different organizations as well, including the Women Student Union, which I was interested in since the summer. The political committee was the one that interested the most and Facebook helped me connect to the people who directed it. I filled out another survey again, but this time through Facebook. My audience again shifted to the people who were involved in the committee, giving out my information, so they could get to know me better. My tone and style in both were more restricted since it was information that had to be filled in.
These genres all contributed in some way to help me become more acclimated to life at FSU. Calling, texting, and Facetime
gave me quick ways to get in contact with the people back
home. Texting provided a fast way to send little messages
giving updates, while calling and facetiming provided a more
intimate way to communicate. The surveys I filled out put me
out there for others to get know, for people I didn’t know at
all. That made step outside my comfort zone as I was
communicating with those I didn’t know.
These genres reflected two different sides of me: where I wanted to stay connected and close with the ones that were familiar to me and where I wanted to break through and get more involved. I wrote about the first two days of my experience since those were definitely the toughest. I decided to write mostly in chronological order as this was the most logical in my mind and in sort of a journal style to make it more personal.
The genres I utilized to help me become more acclimated to college were fast and efficient, while still maintaining the intimacy as if I was actually with my family and boyfriend. The surveys I used helped me express my personal interests and ideas and helped me put myself out there to people I’ve never met before. It was two completely different sides that helped me find my place at Florida State. The genres have helped me transition into this new period of my life and make me not feel like I’m just 1 person out of the 40,000 people who are here.
