Picture this, me – a chubby kid from India being away from home for the first time – stepping onto this beautiful campus for the first time. Scratch that, it was the second time. The first time, i was driving to my dorm (Joss is Boss!!) and my dad decided that it was officially time to embarrass his son. So, while we were going down the main path, we see this tall girl walking towards us – walking with the confidence of someone who has been on Vassar soil for years and years. My charming father promptly rolls down the window and just as we pass her, screams at the top of his lungs – “MAKE FRIENDS WITH HER ARJUN!!!” I have honestly never been more mortified in my life. I dived underneath the seat and sat there, shaking like a leaf, worried that my father had officially ruined my future Vassar social life and i would never be able to make friends. Luckily for me, this girl (who i strongly suspect was the lovely Robyn Lin) was listening to very loud music on her earphones and didn’t notice the 6″1 bearded and turbaned indian dude yelling in her direction.
Ok i digress. Back to the main story at hand. So I’m on campus and terrified of where i am, being away from home, being in the US etc. etc. However, post orientation was when the real fear set in – First. Day. Of. Classes. Ugh. I still dread the first day of class, a full year and a half later. i still remember my first class – an 8:30am Gen Chem class (in retrospect, i cannot believe i chose or went to an 8:30am class). i was so nervous; i had no idea how to act or what the class would be like. i was used to the indian system of education, where it was just teachers lecturing and us jotting down notes as fast as we could. However, as the semester progressed, i realized that in the US, there was a much stronger tone of informality with our professors.
The one thing i struggle with is calling profs by their first name. Am i the only one who finds that weird? I can’t imagine myself going up to my math teacher and saying “Sup Bob?” That’s just too much. One thing i did learn, however, is that it is extremely important to take yourself out of the headspace of your home education. You should always be open to talking to your profs in their office hours, even if you don’t have questions pertinent to their subject. i had the loveliest conversation with Ben (yes, i call a professor by his first name) the other day about the math behind poker. Also about the game of poker. Also about how to forge a knife. It was a pretty long conversation.
All in all, just remember that everyone is here to help, even the professors. It took me almost a year to get used to it, but once you do, you’re whole view of learning at Vassar changes and you actually look forward to the times where you can just grab coffee with your favorite prof and catch up with them about life. And one last bit of advice, don’t be afraid to leave class to pee. After a year of being to scared to disturb class by leaving, i recommend not putting yourself through that torture.
– Arjun <3
