The Year I was a Gallaudet Freshmen
Written: May 01 '00 (Updated May 01 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: You get the unexpected. Welcome to the world of Gallaudet.
Cons: "Death and Dying" on the weekends.
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| msposner's Full Review: Gallaudet University |
In August, I walked on Gallaudet Campus for the first time as an entering freshman. Little did I know that I’d be faced with a year filled with mayhem, chaos, and the best of the worst of times.
New student orientation came and went.
“Hi. What’s your name?”
“Where are you from?”
“Room 238 HMB is right over there.”
“Uh… no, I don’t know where the EMG Building is…”
Then I met my first roommate. There was a little friction here and there. What’s your name? Where are you from? Okay, okay… yeah, I see… okay, okay… yeah…
One of the first things I learned at Gallaudet was how wonderful the technology is and how effective it was.
Registering for class contained more conflicts than all the gang wars on H-Street put together.
“No, I’m sorry, this class is full.”
“Look here, you got a scheduling conflict.”
“I don’t understand why your account isn’t showing up on the computer.”
Party 101 starts at 10 PM tonight. We all go to waste our first week away, to drown the stress in alcohol. The next morning, all I heard was how everyone was battling their first hungovers, how somebody did something with somebody else, and how funny it was to see eveyone act drunk.
Welcome to the world of Gallaudet.
And by the way, classes start on Monday. Don’t forget to set your alarm early.
September and October came and went… Mom sometimes sent me care packages filled with food, which made me the envy of my floor. Meanwhile in the world of academia, classes progressed without any traces of friction. There were homework to do, there were tests to study for, there were notes to type up…
And there was the world outside Gallaudet.
Staying on campus on the weekends was the equivalent of overdosing on valium for thirty-nine straight days. There was nothing that I hated more than spending the weekends in my dorm room… where the bare walls made me feel as if I was a derranged patient, screaming violently in a mental asylum.
Fortunately, the DC Metro system was capable to be taken advantage of.
I went to Maryland.
I went to Virginia.
I went to all the malls that you could think of.
Pentagon City Mall, Springfield Mall, to name a few.
I went everywhere. One day, I was bored so I went to Friendship Heights in Maryland, all because I was merely curious what it had there for me. When I came back to Gallaudet that night, I wrote a long journal entry about it.
I went to the Delaware border one weekend just to sprawl my legs out on a comfy chair and to become overwhelmed by the rolling hills of the countryside.
Sometimes, happiness can be defined as getting e-mails from your own father.
I went through the year with the approach that Monday opened up an entirely new week for me. I never knew what would go down.
And Friday was the beginning of the end for me. I never knew what would go down during the weekends too.
November came and brought us a month of constant raining.
I remember how some people started getting disgruntled and left for good.
Everyday, I’d hear, “Hey, three more people withdrew from Gallaudet this morning.”
I always thought to myself, “That’s their problem.”
Sometimes life at Gallaudet was boring so I’d order books from Amazon dot com. That was just me making the internet useful.
Thanksgiving weekend rolled around and I went back home to the city of New York where things happen that you’d never seen before.
December was a month filled with final exams, final paper, extended deadlines, stressed-out students, and Chinese food.
And then everything came to a crashing stop.
I finished my history final on a Thursday. That meant I was done for the semester.
Done?
Where did time go? I didn’t have time to answer that because I was busy sorting through greeting cards.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hankukah, Happy Kwanzaa.
And Happy 2000.
And Happy just about everything to you.
I watched the Year 2000 enter our world on a small Television, while drinking a can of beer and eating sliced pepperoni.
The ball is dropping.
10, 9, 8… I take a sip… 7, 6… another sip as time runs out…
Everyone begins applauding and I find myself grinning at the television.
Nothing beats three weeks at home for winter break… All I did was read books. Mostly I caught up with the best sellers and some classics.
And I annoyed my mother too by sleeping all the time as night divided the day.
Then it was time to go back. I said goodbye to my parents at the airport, gave them a farewell hug and was on my way back.
A reminder to myself… winter break is over.
Another reminder… set your alarm. Early. Real early.
One more thing… classes start tomorrow.
Old Man Winter might be an unwelcomed guest in most of regions of the world, but at Gallaudet, it was treated as if it was a kindred spirt.
I will never forget when the sky filled up with clouds. I will never forget watching the sky break wide open, just like the eastern sun, letting the snow come down.
I will never forget the snowball fights outside the freshmen dorms and how the campus was full of revenge as somebody would always be trying to get back at someone else for throwing a snowball in their faces.
After the cancelled days were over with, classes finally began.
It only meant new schedules, new professors, new goals, new everything.
Oddly, after already having one semester in my belt, the second one was a lot easier to digest despite the fact that I had more responsibilities, more goals, and more things to accomplish.
Welcome to the real world.
February came and went. It was nice knowing you while you were here. As expected, plans for Spring Break continued to buzz in the air for as long as it lasted.
I’m going to Cancun.
I’m going to Key West.
I’m going to Daytona Beach.
I’m going to Iowa.
I’m going, I’m going…
And I found myself going back to New York.
March… well, you were fun while you lasted.
The second semester was a lot quieter than the first one. Or so I thought as I witnessed April crashing in where the tide meets the sand…
Academic-wise, the assignments came pouring in… seemed like I had to do a paper every other day.
And there were the tunnels.
Welcome to the underworld...
I fell in love with you.
Trust I seek… and trust I shall find in you…
Only… only until this evening, I realized how fast time did really fly. He came in my room and went, “Only one more week until classes are over!”
I grinned and nodded as if it was a superficial statement.
Then I realized.
He’s right.
But that’s not all.
Just one more week until classes are over.
Just three more years until college is over.
Just five or ten years until we’re all settled down.
Just twenty, thirty, forty years until we’re all grandparents.
Just fifty, sixty, years before somebody will say that you were dearly loved but life does goes on.
The sky is the limit.
(Note: I originally authored this article for the Buff & Blue, Gallaudet University's student-run newspaper but I feel that this might also be suitable for an epinion.)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
msposner
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Member: Michael Posner
Location: Washington, DC / College Park, MD
Reviews written: 104
Trusted by: 68 members
About Me:
I think your woman is great in bed.
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