This is my first week performing for the incoming students at Mizzou’s Summer Welcome. That means a couple different things. I have a longer walk to work. I’m spending more time pretending to be a first-year student. I’m actually talking to people rather than an empty auditorium. But most importantly, I have access to the dining halls.

After we were done at The Missouri Review today, my roommate and I went to Rollins to make use of my newfound access to “all-you-care-to-eat” buffets. And it was so surreal. The dining hall was completely packed with students on their Summer Welcome. The nervousness and excitement and rush to make new friends was a kind of stressful energy to be around.

It brought me back to my Summer Welcome days. I was preparing to go to ~college~ and become a journalist. I didn’t know anyone. I was anxious and unsure about my decision to go to Mizzou. My mother was comforting me throughout the summer. “If you hate it, you can transfer.” So much has changed since then.

I’m in college. I’m a journalism major. And I adjusted. That’s not to say it was easy. My current spiel to the students in our first-year experience skit is about feminism and being open to learning new things in college, but I’ve been thinking it might be more truthful to talk about how hard it can be to adjust to a new environment, especially for out-of-state students. It might have been some comfort for Past Rachel to know that everyone’s first year of college wasn’t quite as amazing as their Facebook albums made it seem. 

I’m very happy with my decision to come to Mizzou. But sitting in a room full of first-year students as I enter my last year of school…I don’t miss it.