Hi everyone! Welcome to my first blog post. I am going to start off with a piece of my life at Ohio Northern University. Just a few weeks ago was the end of my first year away at college. There were good times and some not so good times, but I was expecting that since it was my first time being away from home. And of course, everything was different because of COVID so that had a huge impact as well.
While first semester was rough for me, one of my first and favorite memories thus far was welcome weekend. I came into ONU without knowing a single person, so I was a nervous wreck. My orientation group and leader helped me open up more since it was kind of like an automatic group of friends. We did everything together that first week since we were all trying to get into the swing of things.
We started out with cheesy ice breakers to try and get to know one another better but as we spent more time with each other we started actually becoming friends. We were all glad that we got to do all the fun events together. Not only was my group good, my orientation leader, Emaleigh Wallace, gave me and everyone else a good first impression of life as a polar bear. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to guide me through my first week.
ONU did their best to give us the most normal experience possible while still following COVID rules. We had a night where we just all went on the tundra and got to meet everyone, a night where we got to try all the different types of pizza around Ada, a movie night, a day full of inflatables and games, and signing the rock. Signing the rock made me feel like I was officially an ONU student.
I am very grateful that we got to experience all of this in person. I was able to make friends that I still talked to throughout the year even once we started classes. I try to remind myself that even though the year was different and hard, some people did not get to experience any of this and would have done anything to be able to. I will never forget my first experiences as a polar bear.
Hi Megan! I will never forget my first experience as a polar bear! Welcome Weekend was super nerve racking for me since I didn't really know anyone but once I settled in, it was great! ONU has done so many amazing things to help us connect with each other to make friendships that will last a lifetime! Signing the rock was also really cool too! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYeah everyone remember their 1st week or so at ONU trying to find a group of friends, and trying to get settled into college without your parents around. For me personally my first week after welcome week at ONU was a bit rough. I broke both my wrist in the first week of classes at ONU. I was off campus for 3 weeks getting surgery. My first week at ONU I will remember for a long time. Yeah signing the rock always a good time.
ReplyDeleteHi Megan!!! I may be silly but your post made me kind of emotional because I’m a senior now and will graduate in the summer. I remember when I went to orientation and it was the best. I was so nervous but I ended up having so much fun and meeting my friends that I have literally to this day. When you said you signed the rock and it made you feel like an official student, I shouted “I did that too!” Lol. I am really glad you had a great orientation and met wonderful friends.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you got Emaleigh as your Orientation Leader! She is one of my good friends. As a fellow OL from last year, this is so amazing to hear. We were so afraid that no one would talk to one another and everyone would still be heavily paranoid about all the people and COVID. It's wonderful that you had a great experience and it sounds like you might be a great fit for an OL in one of your years here! I definitely recommend the experience! I hope you had a great freshman year!
ReplyDelete