People Like New

• It's interesting meeting new people again. I feel like I haven't really done it in a long time. Especially in classes at EMU, I generally got a bad impression of people or they already had friends in the class, so I only interacted with them when necessary (for assignments). After all, I had my fantastic roommates, TBS Sisters and band people...who needs more than that? But here, I need to befriend at least some of these people in order to maximize my experience. And, let's face it, there are some very cool people her to get to know. 

First, I love that I've met several people who are as blunt as I am - or at least who are as forward as my other friends. It kind of helps me understand what other people see me as. For example, one day last week, in the span of a couple hours, at least 3 people asked me if I was okay and that I looked tired or sad - I wasn't, so I think that I'm just not as peppy as I come off at first...which may or may not be bad. Another example: In cooking class last week, I partnered with Shelby and Glenn. Shelby and I have been getting to know each other over the last couple months but I had just met Glenn...and he pegged me as a Type A person (like his sister) who aimed for perfection. It wasn't bad, just funny that he got it pretty much right. (He also thought it was interesting that, considering my perfectionist tendancies, I was okay with our bibimap turning out "good enough".) Finally, Shelby has told me more than once (again, not in a bad way) that I'm a bit of a perfectionist. She also said that it was funny how I complain about walking far (like around town) but always want to take the stairs. It's kind of cool to hear new things about myself...or at least things from new people :)

Second, even after the first week, I still feel pretty comfortable eating lunch with new people or sitting by people I don't really know in class/on the bus - today, I kind of figured out why. Usually in new situations (like college orientation), I feel like you can mingle with new people at the beginning, maybe for a couple of days, but then it's kind of a social demand that you settle into an existing or self-made group. But because we're only going to be together as a large group for a short time, it seems that those demands don't really apply (or I'm not letting them). There are definitely many people who have formed groups and I certainly have my "go-to" hang out people. But I will also get to know people who are geographically closer to me more deeply later...so right now is a great time to just mingle with everyone. And the fact that I haven't established myself as part of any one group has really helped me do this, and feel comfortable doing it. It's both a really unique opportunity and a great challenge to put before myself. And, as Ashley put it, we get to "talk to people from around the world on a regular basis and that is pretty awesome" :)