The Residents Have Arrived

The residents are here and it's the beginning of Welcome Week!

Check-in was definitely an experience. The freshmen came in to the room very timid and scared-looking. All the RAs were seated around the room at different stations. My job was mainly to talk about room inventories (checking for damages in the room) and passing out keys. We had two days of check-in, Monday from 9:00am-5:00pm, and Tuesday 9:00am-5:00pm. It was hectic, and exhausting. After they checked in the freshmen set up their rooms. Occasionally I could go around my floor and see if anyone needed help. This was a good way to meet the residents and their families. What was interesting about check-in was that we didn't really have problems with residents, but their parents were not easy to work with. Angry mothers would storm into the check-in area and demand immediate attention for an issue that really didn't have to do with the RAs...such as internet hook ups and the "safety" of the building.

So far my floor is great. I have identified some natural leaders who are very social on the floor. I have also identified some residents who are more timid and might need a little help getting out onto the floor.

It's really awesome to see the residents filling out their "About Me" sheets that I hung outside the doors, and one resident even mentioned how much she liked the door decs and everything I've done so far with the floor. It makes the 8 hours of work spent on door decs worth it.

I've got a lot of work coming up in the next couple of weeks. How things go on the floor in this beginning time period will set the tone for the entire year. I'm going to try to emphasize open doors and communication between residents. I've seen a couple of my residents talking to each other or eating together on a few seperate occasions, and that's great. The connections they make early on are crucial to how they feel about their living arrangements. No conflicts...yet.

Tomorrow will be busy...I've got work to do in the SAA office from 9:30am-it's done, then RA Olympics (the last bit of training) at 1pm. Then I am going to try to make it to the SAA session during Fall Welcome interest sessions at 2:15pm, and then planning for next week's programs and creating shopping lists, then Project RSO for SAA during Fall Welcome at 9:30pm-11pm. It's going to be a busy day, but hopefully a good one!