Taking the initiative

It felt so surreal as I carried my stereo up four flights of stairs, sweat beginning to drip down my neck and intense humidity all around me. This was it. I was finally out of my hometown, and Iiving with someone I didn't know at all. I'd have to wait in line in the mornings to take a shower. I'd have to do my own laundry. I'd be in a class with more than 100 students. I'd have to learn to conquer my shyness and meet new people. \nMeet new people. That phrase stood out in my head as I entered my new room. Meeting new people is very important in college, along with going to class and wearing shower shoes in the bathrooms. It probably isn't as hard for most people as it is for people like me: shy, awkward, low self-esteem, you get the picture. I can't walk up to a group of people and introduce myself. It would take me weeks of preperation to think of things to say that are remotely interesting. As I looked out the window at all the incoming freshmen who don't look like they are as worried about this as I am, I remembered I must wipe the sweat from my forehead, brave the crowds of unfamiliar faces, and help my parents retrieve my clothes. \nAs I carried a big cardboard box awkwardly in my arms, trying to see the steps in front of me, I tried to smile at the people I saw in the stairwell, and not trip. The feelings I had when I was a freshman in high school came back: nervousness, shyness. Except this time, I have no friends to run to for help. Who will I sit with at lunch? Dinner? I suddenly realized that each time I want to eat in the cafeteria, I will need to sit and eat with a group of people. Or I could look like a shy, dorky freshman and sit by myself. \nAs I put my clothes on hangers and hung them in my closet, a girl stopped into my room. \n"Hi," she says. \n"Hi," I say. \n"I was just seeing how you set up your beds," she continued. "My name's Lesley, by the way. I'm next door."\n"I'm Stephanie." \n"I'll see you at that floor meeting tonight."\n"Okay." Well, that wasn't so hard. But she did come to me first. I'm going to have to learn how to initiate a conversation at some point. I wish I could remember how I met my high school friends. \nI was about to go back downstairs and bring up another cardboard box, when a girl came in the room carrying a box, looking for a place to put it down. \nI decided to take the initiative. After all, she looked nice. She was short, skinny, had blonde hair and was smiling even though she was sweating just as much as I was.\n"Hi. You must be Hillary," I said.\n "Yeah, hi. You must be Stephanie," she said, putting the box down next to my empty one on the bed and shaking my hand.\n "It's hot in the stairwell, isn't it?" I asked.\n "I know, it's like a sauna!" she exclaimed.\n We ended up talking a long time, as we moved into our room together. Later I realized that I had initiated that conversation, something that had been worrying me that whole morning. I smiled and thought to myself, I could do that a few more times. Yeah, I think I'll be okay here.