Today was my official enrolment day at uni. That means that I had to take all the prep work I have done so far, turn up to campus and pitch my plan to an academic advisor who would then… give me academic advice. It was also my first opportunity to interact with other students.
Now in case I haven't mentioned it before I'll say it now: Hi my name is Darcy and I am an introvert.
This does not mean that I am socially inept nor that I cower in the face of public speaking. What it does mean is that being in the presence of people I don't know very well (and sometimes even those I do) taxes my energy resources and at some point I have a choice to A) get grumpy, short tempered and aggressive or B) find some way to get some alone time to recharge the batteries. It also means that since I am so comfortable in my own company and the company of my close friends, I rarely feel the need to socialise outside of my inner circle. This in turn means that although I have perfectly passable social skills, I get very anxious in new social situations where I don't have an anchor and where I fear the possibly of making a faux par - imposing my person on someone who does not wish for the attention or being outright rejected for reasons unknown.
But I am in a pretty good place right now - confidence wise - and I have heard that the more you face your fears the less power they have over you. So today was all about facing the fears. I walked in with my head held high, my smiley personable face on and made it my aim to talk to anyone I happened to come across.
(Let me just emphasise here that this is a BIG DEAL for me… I DO NOT as a general rule go up and introduce myself to people I do not know and have no purpose for introducing myself i.e. introducing myself at work and to clients is easy because I have a purpose, but this, this is very different)
You know what? As a result I had an awesome day :D Don't get me wrong, I got home at 4:30pm or something like that and promptly passed out from exhaustion, but it was absolutely worth it even if I never speak to any of these people again :D
All it took was a bit of conscious decision making and the willingness to read social cue, have an interest in what people had to say and keep asking questions until something clicked!
I helped one girl navigate the inns and outs of the structure of her degree so she could choose her first year subjects. I encouraged another to be a rebel and sneak around the line that the rest of us sheep were trying to pass through (current students were guarding the entrance but I noticed there was a simple gap on the edge that no one was paying attention too… didn't feel the need to use it myself but sure let other people know about it… :P). I spoke to an older woman about why she has chosen to go back to uni and complete a second degree and another younger woman who has been studying by correspondence for the last 4 years but decided it was time for some face to face learning. I chatted up the coffee guy at the cafe, you know, just in case I decide to start drinking caffeinated drinks after all this time. And finally, after collecting my free pizza (hey I am a student now I am allowed to be cheap!) I was faced with the choice… do I sit at that empty table over there or find someone else sitting by themselves and introduce myself. I chose the latter and found myself with 2 new American exchange student friends to spend the rest of the day exploring campus with.
Classes don't start until next week and the next orientation even isn't until Friday so I have a few days to re-charge… but I am pretty awesome, if I do say so myself :-P
Academic advising and enrollment at Uni :)
I helped a girl sneak in before her allocated time... Should I be proud of that little rebellion?
The food court... which has a Boost juice bar for which my bff is no longer talking to me...
Did you know we have a school mascot?... I didn't until today when I was lining up to get my student card and completely distracted by my multitasking and setting up my Uni email address on my iPad. When I looked up there was this ridiculously buff (like I thought it was fake muscle until I looked closer) half naked dude in a kilt standing next to me... :S
Destruction of property?... I don't technically know if we were allowed to be climbing on this structure but I saw it across the green and just HAD to do it. My new exchange friends were only happy to oblige and no one told us to get off so I might try it again one day :)
And thats all she wrote!
Much love,
D.
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