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Saying Goodbye to Sofie and Hello to Rollins

September 22, 2008

It was August 13 and the last day of summer. I sat lazily on the floor of my room holding Sofie, my six-pound Maltese puppy and love of my life, in my arms. Summer had passed quickly, and yet another school year was starting. I looked around my room and saw the bundle of suitcases and boxes stacked disorderly against my wall, awaiting their transportation to my new dorm room. A literal sophomore, but feeling like a first-year student, I was unsure of what awaited me on the other side of that 90-mile drive down the interstate.

From R-Journal

Photo: My little princess Sofie chilling on my bed.

This summer had been such a myriad of personal accomplishments and failures. Going back home to my loving family and five dogs was like being a kid again. Instead of meetings, deadlines, and papers, I had home-cooked manicotti and late-night reruns of One Tree Hill with my sister. Besides taking a one-month job as a Summer Explorations Leader, my summer consisted of licking the batter of my weekly batch of brownies, relaxing at the lake on the weekends with my family, and reuniting with every old friend in town. I spent my summer falling in love with an old flame, playing competitive games of Scrabble, and laughing at random YouTube videos that have no purpose but to entertain those with a bored mind and an internet connection. Unfortunately, I also had the opportunity to watch my cousin, and one of my best friends, pack up her belongings and move to start her life in Tulsa, Oklahoma. All in all, my summer was incredibly beautiful, but, truth be told, I was ready to go back to my second home: Rollins.

My Dad drove the minivan packed with all my belongings, and I followed him in my tiny blue car, blaring Aretha Franklin and Forever the Sickest Kids. “60 miles…40 miles…10 miles to Orlando” the signs read. It was only a matter of time before I pulled into the parking lot along the lake and began to unload my belongings. Upon reaching the door to my residence hall, I was greeted by the excited hugs of some of my best friends and roommates. Although I hadn’t seen them since our June vacation to Naples, it felt like I had been with them just a few days before.

We scurried down to our dorm room as I left a trail of hangers and nail polish bottles in the hallway behind me. Our room was just spacious enough for the three of us, and within 24 hours we had transformed it into a rainbow wonderland that only the girliest of girls wouldn’t find utterly nauseating.

From R-Journal

Photo: My friend Alli and I strolling along the beach in Naples this past summer.

I spent the next few days wandering around campus and reuniting with classmates and friends that I hadn’t seen in months. As leaders of student-organizations, we were all here two weeks before classes started. The majority of this pre-orientation group consisted of peer mentors and those working with the Explorations Office. However, there were also students from JUMP, R-TV, and Camp Alliance joining in the festivities of the Peer Education Program as well.

Since I was on Executive Board for R-TV, we spent most of our days in meetings drawing up the Constitution and other important documents for R-TV. Therefore, we didn’t have to go through all the modules that the rest of the student groups did. However, we did have the opportunity to join the rest of the clan for a free viewing of the movie “The Kite Runner” at the local theatre in Winter Park Village as well as a night show put on by the performers from Orlando’s SAK Comedy Lab. Needless to say, it was a week full of joyful reunions, long meetings, free food, and plenty of entertainment.

Being back on campus during that first week of training helped me to realize how much things really had changed since my last year on campus. No longer the timid first-year student who was unsure of whether “TJ’s” was a tutoring center or a burger joint, I suddenly realized how confident I was as a Rollins College student. I finally began to understand that Rollins wasn’t an institution into which I was enrolled but a community in which I belonged. Every inch of the Rollins College Campus was as much mine as it was the students’ next to me. As the familiar phrase goes, I understood that “I am Rollins College,” and it truly is a beautiful thing to be.

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