A Look Back on Freshman Year

Don't I look thrilled? #not

When I was little, I was used to the idea that I would one day go to college. After all, it was what all the big kids around me did. And obviously I would go to Geneva College. My parents met there.

But by the time I was a junior in high school, I didn't want to go to Geneva, or to any college. Knowing full well how I felt (if you haven't noticed, I'm a vocal person) about college, my parents did not put any pressure on me other than to still take the necessary tests and send in the necessary applications just in case I changed my mind. I started to get annoyed at well-meaning people asking me what my plans were for college. I wanted to tell them I had none.

God had other plans. He sure has a sense of humor, too.

My parents made a deal with me my senior year. After we got back from our usual March trip, I had to decide whether or not I wanted to go to either Geneva College in Pennsylvania or Anderson University in South Carolina (the two schools I had narrowed my options down to) or to skip college entirely. They encouraged me to go, as I probably wouldn't have the opportunity for the scholarships I had been offered again. I went up to my room, determined to come down the next day with a negative answer. Then I opened my Bible to Proverbs, and verses started to blaze out at me like laser lights. The kind of laser light you want to ignore because it's not what you want, but you can't ignore it because it's just too in your face.

"Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching."

So, immensely annoyed, I came down the next morning in my plaid green pajamas, sat on the couch across the room from my long-suffering mother, and, ignoring my sister's cat's demands for attention, told her I decided that Geneva it was.

The entire time between that morning and the day my parents finally dropped me off, I didn't want to go, and I didn't want to be there. I was expecting a bunch of megachurch VBS-quality activities, an obnoxious dorm hall, freshman stigma, homeschool stigma, drama, the creepy side of the dating scene, the difficulties of transition, and the nastiness of the dining hall job I signed up for.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

I stood there on the lawn with the other students in my major in an awkward circle, watching my crying mom and the rest of my family walking away, took a deep breath, and thought, "Well, here goes."

The room.

Welcome Week

Most of the history squad

Welcome Week was long, but it was heaven for this extrovert looking for friends. The college put us history, history education (YAY!), political science, and sociology (except there weren't any) majors in a group and made us play games against the other Learning and Transition groups. There was nine of us, all with more brains than brawn (except for two football players) and a preference for the bleached library haunter look. There were at least forty engineers, as many elementary education majors, and then there was us, the smallest group. We had no chance at popping everyone else's balloons or filling our sponge bucket the quickest, but we didn't care. We ran everywhere, crashed Fern Cliffe porch for dinner, and spent another afternoon on a ropes course. We failed. That's okay, though. We bonded quickly.

We went to the first football game of the situation, which was memorable for a number of reasons. I introduced a few people to each other who are now dating (I don't let them forget it), my international friends got their first taste of American Football (they found it terribly boring), our team lost, and one of the band members, who is now one of my best friends, nearly exploded his hand off in a firework accident (he's okay, in case you were wondering). 

Alex's

I started work at Alex's dining hall as a buffet runner on my second day of classes. I was alone (there's supposed to be three or four of us) and was baptized by fire (and warmer water, gravy, ranch dressing, mop water...) 

Alex's is the last place students usually pick to work, but as inglorious as the job is (picking up people's dropped french fries off the floor is always fun), I actually have come to enjoy it. I don't have a picture of us together, but my friend Jade in the salad department has become something of a second mother on campus. She's from Hong Kong and has worked at Alex's for twenty years, and she's always happy to see me come in. She asks how I'm doing, tells me to eat more, gives me strawberries off the special events plates, and when I tell her my friends want more of this or that in the salad line, she almost always puts it out.

PR photographers! 

Public Relations

I got the opportunity to get a paid internship with the PR office as a photographer. It's been a learning process, using super-advanced cameras and lighting and doing everything from taking professors' headshots to doing student photo booths to football games to taking pictures of book bags for social media contests. But I always get into events for free and I look pretty professional carrying ten pounds of expensive cameras around my neck while crossing campus, sneaking shots at unsuspecting students.

Genevans

The Superanos! (Second sopranos)

If I went to Geneva, I would join Genevans. That was just how it would be. Needless to say, I was slightly worried when I went to our director Doc's office to audition for the first time. I had next to no musical training, no idea what my voice type was, and no idea how to harmonize. Needless to say, I was very relieved to see my name under the second soprano section list the next week.

Genevans is my favorite community on campus so far. There's something about getting to sing God's praise twice a week (and getting an A for it), and then taking our program to people everywhere that just gets me in the feels. Genevans offered a lot of opportunity to make friends with upperclassmen, and over time my range has extended half an octave.

Grace Notes

Probably my favorite memory from Genevans was the bonfire night we had early in the season last fall. We were out on a hayride, and I was crammed shoulder to shoulder to knee to knee between a Bass 2, an Alto 2, and a Tenor 1, and we tried to sing one of our songs, failed, and didn't care, because it was not unbearably cold and the stars were bright that night and the bumpy road improved our vibrato drastically. 

There's also Grace Notes, which I never planned on joining, but I'm so glad I did. Our little group of girls had the opportunity to sing at the Veteran Hospital in Pittsburgh to men who had fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars this past Christmas, and I hope we get to do it again!

Ryan, Chris, Nathan, and Josh, my fantastic four starring actors

Filmfest

I came to Geneva with a seedling idea for Filmfest, which I knew about from friends who'd recently graduated from Geneva. I pitched it over dinner one night to a group of friends, and voila, The Student Bride was born. 

With the biggest cast on record, it was a beast to manage and direct, but it was fun, even when it was so cold my co-star Chris and I would steal the staff's coats and gloves. It snowed at one point, the first snow of the season, and I will always remember all of us running screaming inside the rotting music building... except for my Malaysian friend Josh, who had never seen it before. 

"Guys! Where are you going?" he exclaimed, pure excitement all over his face. "It's snowing!"

"Exactly!" Chris yelled back, and slammed the rattling door shut on Josh and his ecstasy. 

The thing is, Genevans had unfortunately scheduled an out-of-town concert the same day as Filmfest, and I wasn't sure I'd get to see my film on the big screen or walk the carpet with my friends. But one of my fellow choir members, who also had a film entry, was determined not only to get to Filmfest, but to ride one of the limos they were using to transport students from the college to the event location. So as soon as the concert ended, he and I and our fellow filmmakers went tearing out of the building and to his van, us girls huddling in the van to slide into our formal dresses, but once we were ready to leave, we couldn't find Josh. So my one friend went after him, but then we lost him too, so one of the girls kicked her heels off and ran all over the brick block looking for him, and then they were all missing, and then they ran into each other at once and came tearing around the corner. I started singing the Chariots of Fire theme song, we piled in, drove off, almost crashed in a ditch, raced Doc on the highway, and somehow made it to Filmfest looking relatively fabulous. 

Church

Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church. My friends Josh, Nathan, and I all tried the congregation out one fall Sunday, and not only have we stuck there, we've managed to get a good number of friends to join us. I'm super close with my church in Tulsa, so it was important to me that I find a good church family at school. Grace has been wonderful. Pastor Mahlen comes and joins us students for lunch every Thursday to talk about anything and everything, and almost every week we get invited to someone's house between services. 

My DASH group (missing Eden)

Bible Study

College Hill RPCNA hosts a small group Bible Study program that I was at first hesitant to join, as I'm A. attending Grace OPC, B. hesitant to join anything called small group, but it was one of the best decisions I made at college. Our leader, Miss Rachael, is a Geneva alum herself, and always makes everything so pleasant and conversational for us girls. There's Lauren, fellow history major, Mimi, biology major from China, and Penn State Beaver student Eden, who will be leaving us (sad face) because she is getting married (YAY!!) and moving. We never stick to meeting for just an hour because we talk so much, and sometimes we go to Miss Rachael's house to watch Simon's Cat and eat food. One time we even threw a Chinese New Year's Party for Mimi and made legit dumplings (even gluten free ones for me!) 

Professors 

I haven't had a professor I've disliked yet, but some have really made an impression on me. They made my inexperience in the classroom setting (#homeschoolprobs) a no-big-deal quickly. 

Dr. Williams is also Chalkboard Wolverine in his spare time

There's Dr. Williams, who I had for English 101. I didn't like him at first. My first impression of him was the fact he was wearing crocs and a Captain America t-shirt under his blazer and he spent the first half-hour of class talking about The Walking Dead and Star Wars with my classmates. But it didn't take long for me to call him not just one of my professors, but one of my friends, and that's not just because he literally tossed the syllabus over his shoulder (he actually threw it. I'm not kidding) and said, "Forget the last three papers." Not just because he willingly joined Student Bride as the Six-Fingered professor. Not just because when we were suppose to be talking about my paper, we'd discuss writing and publishing almost like peers. Not just because he told me I should get my doctorate. Mostly because Dr. Williams is just an awesome human being. Anyone who has seen his Geneva Reading Series videos knows this. 

Poor Professor Demaree

Then there's Professor Demaree. I had Prof. Demaree for two history units, and I related to him because he was coming in as a freshman professor along with me and my fellow freshmen. He used a lot of teacher tricks in the classroom that I quickly jotted down to my memory, and as a graduate student himself, was extremely understanding to us his students. Despite being a notoriously tough grader, he had more patience than I did for some of my classmates (though not so much for the inconsistent overhead projector system) and always talked to me with a lot of concern not just for my academic plans but also for me as a person. So when he got married over spring break and didn't tell us, we drew all over his chalkboard and yelled congratulations at him when he came in. He was royally embarrassed. Mission accomplished. 

Then there's a couple of professors I haven't had yet, but will next semester. Dr. Frazier knew who I was before I knew who he was (I still am not sure how), but he always made an effort to get to know me and after I signed up for his humanities course next fall, has kindly told me I will be singing regularly in his class. I thought he was joking, until one of my friends told me he meant it. Regardless, I'm looking forward to sitting under Dr. Frazier's teaching.

Dr. Curtis is one of the most brilliant men I've ever met. From minute details in the Crusades to a hundred different forms of poetry, he has a massive library in his mind that I wish I could tap into. He basically enlisted me into his church history class, which I'm extremely excited about, and likes to join me and my friends for lunch. He always has cottage cheese and makes at least half a dozen puns. One time he said to me, "I give out a lot of red C's. I use so much ink their papers look like the Red Sea. So my students probably feel like they are passing through the Red Sea passing with their red C's." 

My friends

I've made more friends than I can count or write about here. At first, I was mostly close with just my major group and then the international students, but between random ultimate frisbee games with the engineers and choir and work, that smallness of circles did not last long for me! Now, as much as they will probably say, "Oh, Rachel," I need to give at least a little shoutout to my best friends who I've grown so close to these past months:

Hayley and Kara

Kara:

Kara!! <3

Kara is a fellow history major and one of the sweetest girls I've ever met. We bonded quickly, both
being Presbyterian, homeschooled, and happy to talk forever about anything from massive big theological topics to memories of dances we went to in high school. Our schedule conflicts in a way that we never get to hang out as much as we'd like, but despite that, Kara is easily one of my best friends. I got to meet her family and spend a weekend with them, including wonderful food and fellowship, two historical balls, playing Legos with her brother and chasing chickens with her sister. We've worked together at Alex's, gotten lost trying to go swing dancing, and fangirled over Prof. Demaree's class together after almost every class. I only hope we can spend loads more time together these upcoming semesters! Love you, Kara!

Hayley and I being uncharacteristically unproductive

Hayley:

I actually don't remember how I met Hayley in person, but we were Facebook friends before coming to college thanks to Geneva's class page. She's the Sadness to my Joy, my co-host of Humans of Geneva College, brings a good dose of no-nonsense sugar to our friends group, and is our patient taxi driver. When I've had an off day, we just go to our special talking spot and talk it out and eat chocolate (I think a couple times we were up past midnight!). And speaking of chocolate, one time we spent a couple hours making truffles in one of the grimy dorm kitchens while watching Veggietales by putting her laptop on top of the fridge. We sang all the songs we knew with chocolate all up our fingernails. I can't wait to make more memories this next year, as we will be rooming together! Make all the things!

Thomas:

Thomas!!

I got to know Thomas, aforementioned survivor of the band accident, through Genevans rehearsals.
He does cool stuff like play bassoon, write sonnets, and model railroading. He introduced me to Star Trek, RC Cola, Trivia Crack, and Chris Rice. I in turn introduced him to Animaniacs, swing dancing, Lucky Charms, and (along with my other OPC friends) Reformed theology. Most of the time we've hung out involves the periodicals room in the library, him procrastinating on his lab reports while playing Sonic the Hedgehog and me procrastinating on my papers about suicidal 19th century business men by writing blogposts. But a couple times, along with Kara and Josh, we've gone sledding down this massive unfenced hill that leads to the rugby field on campus. I will tell you that we crashed and got all tangled and almost died. He'll tell you we didn't almost die... well, yeah, we did crash though, but it wasn't that bad. And no matter what, Thomas always knows how to make me smile on an off day.

Josh:

Orientation buddies, now best friends!

Josh was my first friend on campus. He's from Malaysia and I'm from Oklahoma, and as far as most of our Pennsylvanian classmates are concerned, those both qualify as "far-away places." We spent a lot of Welcome Week together, talking about Puritans and Artemis Fowl and me explaining American food to him. I've convinced poor Josh to do a lot of things, like film Student Bride and join Genevans mid-year and come almost die on the rugby field hill with me and Thomas, and not only has he done so, he made it even more fun with his insight and sense of humor. We've made so many memories. There was one night we and Thomas and Kara made the mistake of looking through the LEGO Bible in the library, and Josh's comments were so hilarious that the library lady had to come and tell us to stop laughing. And then there was the time we were going to a student after-church gathering hosted by the College Hill RPCNA and it was so cold that we were hopping up and down most of the way there. Josh is basically the older brother I didn't have.

Josh and Thomas and I, after almost dying going sledding all together. On the same sled. Yeah.

I have so many more friends than just these four that I could write an entire book about: my other future roommates, Sarah, Shannon, and Dana, my friend Jake who is the best pianist I know, Mimi and Lauren, the girls in my Bible study... the list could go on.

My family

Now I can't write all about college and not talk about my family! I'm unashamedly one of those kids who calls their parents almost every day, and why shouldn't I when they convinced me to come here in the first place? Dad helps me sort out theology in my Bible assignments and Mom sends me more chocolate than I know what to do with and they are both always a phone call away (thank God for technology!). My siblings FaceTime me regularly, and sometimes I digitally get to sit in on family devotions. My siblings also have been managing Calvinist Kids in the Kitchen As fun as college is, I can't wait to see them all again. Christmas break was too short. And I miss my cat.

College has been a lot of transition for me. Not necessarily because of moving far away, but rather because my life is now a lot different (in a good way!) from the friends I had before college. Despite losing touch while their circles have largely stayed intact, we still pick up right where we left off. As the semester comes to a close, I'm both glad (NO. MORE. HOMEWORK.) but also sad to leave my friends here. At least I know I will be coming back next fall, and I can't wait! God has certainly blessed me