Academic

The first academic activity I attended took place during orientation week. There was an optional program some of the upperclassmen were running called ‘Best Foot Forward’. The point of this activity was to help new students get more familiar with campus before their classes actually began. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to this at first, but I figured that I would rather gain the knowledge of which buildings were which and where my classes were located so that I wasn’t frantically scrambling around on the day my courses began. I invited my roommates to join me, but I ended up going alone. I forget the name of the person I was paired up with, but she was so helpful and willing to answer any questions I had about life at UNE. We explored campus together, and she shared with me a lot of shortcuts as well as the proper pronunciations of each of the buildings. It was a very enlightening experience, and I believe that attending Best Foot Forward helped me become more comfortable with navigating campus.  

The second academic activity that I attended was a study session at SASC. I was struggling with chemistry early on in the semester, but I procrastinated getting help because SASC was unfamiliar to me. I had never had a resource like SASC available to me before, so I was unsure of how and when to utilize it at first, despite how abundantly clear the University made it that it was there solely to help students. I recall getting to a point where I knew I had no other choice but to at least try attending a study session. I signed up online, and when the time rolled around, I found myself sitting at a table with a very open-minded tutor as she helped me and a few other kids prepare for our exam. She answered a lot of my questions– the ones I was too afraid to ask during my large lecture class. She was very thorough when explaining things to us, and even though I didn’t get a perfect score on my chem exam, I did a lot better than I think I would’ve if I hadn’t gone. I ended up using SASC a few other times throughout the semester. It truly is a great resource, and I plan to refer to it again if I struggle in the future.

The last Academic activity I want to write about is a meeting I set up with my academic advisor. There was a period during this first semester where I was struggling with my mental well-being. As a result, I watched my courses begin to slip through my fingers as my work instantly piled up. It felt like a very hopeless situation from my point of view, but thankfully, after meeting with the counseling center, I was able to set up an appointment with my academic advisor. She was able to help me assess what I was able to salvage, and what I should cut out. I ended up withdrawing from pre-calc, which ultimately was the best move for me. Cutting out that class from my schedule really helped free up more time for me to focus on my other courses. I saw my grades in my remaining courses rise as my mental health improved– that meeting was truly a pivotal point in this first semester, as it saved me from plummeting into a point of no return.

Social

The club fair had been a really nice event to attend. I went with my roommate Eliza, and together we explored all the clubs that were available to students. I was shocked with the variety of clubs that were open to us. They had everything from bee-keeping club to club sports teams and so much more. I think I signed up for multiple ocean-related clubs as well as pre-vet club (I am not a veterinarian student), art club, outdoors club, best buddies, and several others. I was so ambitious and maybe even a little impulsive, but I found that I didn’t really have the time to participate in all of them as the year progressed. The majority of my focus was going to my studies, and I was also dealing with personal issues. I hope that I will have a more balanced schedule next semester– I am still excited to get involved in what I initially signed up for. 

I didn’t hear about Glow Night until one of my friends texted me about it rather late in the evening. I debated with myself about going a bit, and ultimately ended up throwing on my shoes and meeting my friend outside my dorm within the next few minutes. Rosie and I arrived there towards the end of the event hours, but we were still in time to participate in a lot of the booths and games that were set up. There were some massive pieces of glow in the dark equipment which included an odd-looking swing and random animal statues. There were also some inflatable games; fake ax-throwing, basketball, and a golfing station among others. We did everything we could possibly get our hands on– I discovered that I am scarily good at ax-throwing. Rosie ended up accidentally hitting me with a golf-club as it slipped out of her hands, but we had so much fun nonetheless. 

Since my roommate Eliza is on the women’s Rugby team, I was more than inclined to go to as many of her games as I could. I remember being stunned by the crowd turnout and how supportive the UNE community was of the team. I had never experienced that level of passion for a woman’s sports team back at home, which made the event so much more meaningful. I didn’t really know much about the sport, but I definitely gained a lot of knowledge about it from just observing from the crowd. By the end of the season, I was able to explain some of the rules to my confused friends. I felt myself becoming increasingly more engaged in the overall experience with each passing game. Despite not being on the team itself, the Rugby season was very special to me.

One of the last social events that I think is worth mentioning took place relatively recently. In the campus center, an event was being hosted titled Smoothies and Acai Bowls. My roommates, Alexis and myself received a notification for it on our phones while we were eating dinner in the dining hall. We finished up and decided to make our way over to the campus center. The weather was partially rainy, but the only way I can begin to describe what happened next was that it was like God himself was waiting for us to step outside so that he could bring his wrath down upon us. It sounds dramatic, I know, but all of a sudden a massive bolt of lightning struck the ground nearby. It had just been a flash at first, but just like that, the entire campus went pitch black. Picture yourself standing in the dark with rain pelting down on you, and then you hear the roaring of thunder overhead. Within a heartbeat, the sky lights up electric-blue and buzzing and zapping is sounding from all around you. The lights in the buildings flashed momentarily, then went out. This happened a couple times– the small group of us were scared pantsless. We booked it to the campus center, and after getting inside where it was safe, we learned that the transformer which had supplied power to most of the dorms, had blown up. We still got our smoothie and acai bowls, though. They were delicious. 

Extra

Very early on in the semester, the group of friends I had been hanging out with at the time decided to take a late-night trip to Freddy Beach. We had discovered a little hangout area towards the end of the long stretch of sand that consisted of a makeshift bench and some logs, all positioned around a fire pit. As we all sat down, I recall looking up at the night sky and witnessing how vivid the stars were in Maine. The sky looks a lot different in Massachusetts, the stars there are visible, but so much dimmer due to the light pollution in my hometown of Leominster. I was so stunned at how gorgeous the scenery was– In the moment, I found that I was extremely present and appreciative of what it took to get me to where I was. We all sat for a few moments, and after a while, we decided that it was a great night for a swim. This was the first time I had been in the ocean– the water was absolutely freezing, but it was an exhilarating experience. That night will forever be a staple of my first year at UNE. 

As the end of October neared, there were several halloween parties that were taking place in and around campus. My roommate Olivia and I ended up joining a large group of friends and carpooling to the Lacross place– which I learned is called the Lax House. The party itself had a very unique sort of atmosphere. It was absolutely packed, which was a strange thing to experience after having dealt with the pandemic. It was shoulder-to-shoulder, Olivia and I had to squeeze our way through the sweaty crowd in order to find people we knew. I could hardly hear anything she was saying to me over the deafening music and the shouting of the crowd. I remember pulling out my phone at some point– the air was so dense with humidity that condensation was forming on my screen. We stayed for a few good hours– we ended up getting back to campus around 2 AM. I was mentally and physically exhausted. I think I had the best night’s sleep of my life when I finally made it to bed.

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the Winter event which was hosted both within the first floor of the commons and directly outside of the building. It had been a very wholesome experience, as my roommates and I started off the night by attending one of the last floor meetings that would be hosted by our RA before winter break. We all made signs for the hockey game– we ended up starting a little drawing competition amongst ourselves; who could draw the best Stormin’ Norman. After we had finished, we all journeyed down to the commons to check out what was put together. It was very beautiful– at this point, there were tons of winter decorations set up and Christmas music was playing indoors. There was a table where you could frost cookies indoors and right outside was a hot chocolate bar along with some winter-themed activities. After poking around for a bit and chatting with people we knew, the three of us played three-way-pool in the game room. This was definitely one of my favorite events, as it reminded me of how close Christmas break was.