The start of the best four years of your life

By Amber Larkin

I do not know what it is about icebreakers that makes college people happy, but I am over them.

Meeting people is awkward, and the forced interaction does not help.

Fortunately, the Leadership, Excellence and Academic Development, or LEAD, Program brought in about 50 freshmen, including me, to meet and get to know each other a week before school started.

I was told that I was lucky that I got to move in early because Welcome Weekend would be a mess. It was great -- for a week I had my dorm room all to myself.

When my roommate arrived I was so excited to meet her. It felt as if we already knew each other because we had Facebooked each other over the summer. So far, I have no complaints.

Before I left home, I was warned that I would get sick and miss my family. Unfortunately, these predictions have come true.

On the second day of classes, I developed a cough that I still cannot seem to shake. This does not get in the way of studying as much as it interferes with sleep -- as if it isn't difficult enough to wake up for an 8 a.m. class.

At first I rationalized signing up for the early class by saying that it would be just like high school.

What a lie! In high school, I had a bedtime and not nearly as much time-consuming homework.

At least I have two classes which help me complete multiple core credits.

My class load is a good size. Two of my classes focus more on thought development than processing information to spit back. More so than in high school, these classes challenge the student to ask, "Why?"

At least my classes were affordable when it came to books. A neighbor of mine is a chemistry major who paid $236 for one book.

I am undeclared in the College of Arts and Sciences, and chemistry has now been crossed off my list of potential majors.

Also, every evening after dinner, a group from my floor in Walsh Hall brings homework and we reserve a room to work in the library, which is silent compared to the noisy residence halls. The comfort level in my group is relatively high, especially considering the fact that we have only known each other for two weeks.

Having a group of friends is helpful because it keeps the loneliness away. We also keep busy by trying out clubs. So far, I have attended the Igwebuike meetings and I look forward to participating with the SCU College Democrats. But, I also need time to have a job.

I have also met many people while studying in the library, including Issy Hoy, a freshman tennis player. Hoy agreed that the first week was a better experience because of the friendly Santa Clara students. "Even the sophomores are really helpful," she said.

Seattle is my hometown. Everywhere I turn, there are small reminders of home. Many students at Santa Clara are from Seattle -- even a couple of kids I went to middle school with.

In other words, homesickness has not been a big problem yet.

Luckily, I can e-mail my sister and my mother, and I spend more time on these e-mails than I do writing on my friends' Facebook walls.

It also helps that the campus is just the right size. Everything is conveniently close together. My friend and fellow freshman Maral Habib agreed, "I like that there is a cafe in the library, because I can just grab my breakfast before I start studying."

I used to text on my cell phone all day. As luck would have it, in the chaos of Welcome Weekend, my phone died. That has to be the hardest thing for me right now.

If someone came up to me and asked me if I miss my family, I would smile and simply say, "No, I miss my cell phone." It is everything to me -- my alarm clock, my ability to communicate with people at home and at Santa Clara and even my tip calculator.

The best part of the first weekend was going to the Lupe Fiasco concert. I stood in the front row with my new friends and partied the night away. After the show, we went to The Bronco and grabbed a late-night meal.

So far, there is no doubt in my mind that college is better than high school. After all, I am in class for, at most, four hours a day.

But, then again, it has only been the first two weeks.

Contact Amber Larkin at alarkin@scu.edu.