Orienting yourself

I love Bloomington during the offseason. In the summer, everything kind of slows down, giving me the ability to see this place for what it really is. Lately, I’ve been watching the freshmen arriving in herds for their two-day orientation visits.
The other day, I felt sorry for a girl as I watched her stagger from the parking lot at 10th Street wearing the standard red drawstring backpack, looking like a wounded animal fumbling toward a slaughterhouse.

Traffic was backing up behind her as she stumbled into the road, utterly confused of where to go despite the signs reading “WELCOME TO ORIENTATION” and “CHECK-IN HERE.” In one hand, she held a pocket-sized mirror, which she used to strategically position her bangs. The look on her face reminded me of constipation.

Now, I don’t want to give you the wrong idea. I’m not the type of person who looks down on people because of their lack of experience in a new situation. Because believe me, I’ve been there. The freshmen are all nervous and awkward and self-conscious, every one of them, even if they aren’t willing to admit it. They think orientation is a tryout, an audition for the college experience.

The ones who aren’t frozen with anticipation, the few who seem confident and prepared for college life, are for the most part loud, obnoxious and egotistical. Don’t let them fool you; all that is just a front. They are just as nervous as the others.

Let me be the first to tell you, freshmen, that despite all the hype and the teen movies and the short-lived MTV reality shows, college isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. Sure, like anywhere, Bloomington has a scene, an ongoing popularity contest that carries over from the high schools. This town’s full of them: the frat scene, the bar scene, the hipster scene, etc. But if you really want to succeed, you have to be smarter than the scene.   

If I have any advice for you, it’s this: relax. The more you anticipate the next four years, the more you’re going to be disappointed when you find out that this is just another place to live and work and go to school, just like the town you came from.

That realization comes hard for some people, the ones who have invested so much into the illusion of the “college experience” that they’ve wasted all their time trying to impress other people, as opposed to figuring out what really makes themselves happy. That’s the key to this town: If you can make a lifestyle out of doing what you truly love, it’ll impress everybody.

If you want a valuable first impression of Bloomington, you should try enjoying the really fine things this place has to offer.

As a suggestion, you could start by forgetting the “CHECK-IN HERE” signs for a few minutes and redirect yourself to one of the fountains on campus. Sit right down next to it and wait until the wind catches the water midair and sends the mist in your direction. That’ll cool down those nerves.