won't you be my neighbor

i . love . community .

every time i leave school, i get a little sad that i'm leaving my fellow students. it seems like i'm missing out on an opportunity to meet new people (if that's even possible) or to actually get to know the ones i have already met. i envision your typical freshman-year-dorm experience...everyone piled onto the couches in the lounge, watching new movies, playing new games, having deep conversations til 4am: the beginnings of a community.

but today, i realized that community isn't built only on campus. it is built by knowing your off-campus people, by not being too shy to ask for rides into town, by not being afraid to be the first to go visit the other students you know live down the street.

we're day 2 into orientation, and man have my gladiators been pushing me through. from info meeting to personality tests to course fairs to advisor sessions, those shoes have taken quite the beating. by the time i get home i only want my slippers :) (i actually don't own a pair, come to think of it). but tonight, we decided to put the schedules and details aside and have some fun. we put on our galoshes (some of us may have been layering gladiators underneath for confidence!) and headed down the street to meet out neighbors, intending to visit 3 other students a few houses down. but when we crossed the street, there were 2 other students entering THEIR house. what a great surprise! then we made our way to the intended destination, received some cookies and planned a party (AND found out where to do our laundry...that's always important) only to go behind THEIR house to knock on another door!

we made our way home, so so glad that we had taken the time off from our business to reach out to our neighbors, some we didn't even know existed.

giddy with the happiness of making new friends, we had one more stop: the boy who had moved in downstairs. we knocked on his door. no answer. so we decided to run up and write him a note saying we had stopped by...only to find him in our kitchen drinking tea with roommate #3!

it was so nice to finally just sit and talk with people, to begin developing relationships instead of just fleeting meetings in and around school. i am so thankful to find so many students living in my neighborhood, and we are all excited for the start of our little community!