The Story
Tribe Vibe: Taking Care of Myself
This article is the latest in The DoG Street Journal's weekly series of opinions pieces, "Tribe Vibe." Tribe Vibe discusses the most important aspects of William and Mary, the Tribe and life in Williamsburg.
I remember my first couple of hours in Williamsburg: the train ride took too long, it was too humid, and the campus was empty.
The last words my dad said to me in front of Fauquier Hall were in Romanian: “Deci asta e. Ai grija de tine!” (In English: “This is it. Take care of yourself!”)
I remember feeling somewhat mad at him. Is this all he had to say? Was he really going to leave me in this empty place all by myself? The building gave me the creeps!
As you can tell, I was not the happiest camper in lovely Williamsburg. How could I have been? A week before I was hanging out with my best friends in good ol’ Romania, but I left everybody I knew -- my mom, my grandmothers, my cousins, my best friends -- in order to study in the U.S. at this specific college.
I did not know what to expect, so I guess my initial rage was more from the fact that I had thrown myself in this completely unknown place.
That evening I remember meeting this great girl, Meredith, apparently my RA. I had no clue what "RA" meant.
While I admit that I was not the most up-to-date person when it comes to college rules and life on campus, I never said anything. I have this extremely severe sense of embarrassment that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life, so even though I knew I had a good grasp of English, I kept thinking that maybe I would make grammatical mistakes and everybody will laugh at me. I wondered if the things I did normally at home would be seen as awful here?
So I guess it is obvious that I did not sleep well that night: I had way too many questions running through my head.
International students have to arrive on campus earlier than regular students in order to have a special, additional orientation session. That was when I realized that my whining was pretty much pointless.
The staff from Reves Center for International Students was ready to help us out, and I was not the only foreign person there. A lot more students were in the same situation as I was. I met a lot of people and could clearly feel a positive vibe about this experience and the many other challenges that waited.
It turned out to be a long, but great, day, and I could not wait for classes to start.
The international student community is not large at all, but surprisingly enough, it is deeply varied. I met a lot of great people from places like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, India, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland -- from all around the world!
I have always loved analyzing cultural intermingling, and, for me, these experiences are nothing short of enriching. To be honest, I am always in awe at what my life has become.
I have always felt a great respect from all my American peers. I will never forget the first days of orientation with my freshman hall or my first day of classes. From that first day I met a lot of great people with whom I have become friends. I am not a shy person, and I tend to be friendly and sociable as much as possible.
I do not think that a few years ago my mom would have been convinced that my over-bubbly personality could have eventually saved my life, but it has become clear to me after my first two amazing years here that communication is the key in life.
Just two weeks before I had nothing but two suitcases, and at that particular moment, I already had friends. It is an amazing feeling of accomplishment, as grand as that may sound, but when I look back, I definitely feel good about myself and the attitude I have had.
After two years and way too many experiences to clearly remember, I can safely say that my first week at the college was extremely inspiring, educationally speaking.
This year, I was invited to give an alumna speech at my high school. It was an interesting challenge, and I went back and forth with my speech until I realized that the only thing I could say to the graduates was that in life, people do need luck, help, and lots of other things, but they mostly need courage.
I honestly believe that all foreign students have a great amount of courage. I always wonder what might have happened if I had failed in winning against my emotions -- and to be honest, there were a lot of those!
It is still difficult to be away from my family and friends, from an environment that I know in its entirety, but I once heard someone say, “One must make sacrifices in order to put the arch where he wants to put it.”
And I couldn't agree more.
Anca Cretu is a guest contributor for The DSJ. Her views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.