Open Mindedness: Have you looked past your peers ?

Because I Said So

by UMES Senior Marina Anoh

Open Mindedness: Have you looked past your peers ?

Have you ever felt like you know everyone but you really, truly know NO ONE and feel all alone in a room filled with people who know your name?

Well you may say this only happens to celebrities and famous people but I beg to differ. On August 28 I walk on to the campus with my head held high knowing that I was going into a new and promising semester. I had so much to look forward to like seeing my friends and classmates and starting this academic year on the right foot. When I walk around campus I saw a plethora of familiar faces and smiles. People were asking me about my summer and how I have been and the answer seemed the same between most upperclassmen as the majority of us worked a summer job and did nothing special at all. I walked into my classes and some people greeted me with a smile as they seemed to be happy to be back to school. It wasn’t until I went home later on in the afternoon that I realized I had nothing to do. So I picked up my phone as started looking down my address book to see who I could link up with. As I went from the A’s down to the Z’s I realized that all of my really close friends had graduated.

 So….. I did what anyone in my position would have done at the time, I went to check my twitter to see what my peers on the shore where doing. As I looked on my timeline I saw that most of the people who I was following had already graduated and only about 12% of my followers on the shore were still here. And since I don’t want to be fake and start talking to people I really never talked to or would talk to on a regular bases I went to my second choice Instagram! As I looked at the recent uploaded pictures of my followers I also saw the same thing, almost everyone that I followed was not here. And that’s when it dawned on me. I really don’t know anyone on the shore any more. As I started to ponder I realized that this was an inevitable situation. All my 3years on this campus I always had friends who were older than me and so each year I had less and less people around. Now that I am a senior I see that there is no one left because 75% of the students here now are underclassmen compared to me; and the other 25% are like me but since I’ve never really formed a relationship with them senior year seem a little too late right?

Well here is the thing, no matter how hard I’ve tried to avoid it I’ve learned that one never learns about themselves until they learn about the world around them and acknowledges that this life is filled with new things and learning about one another is just part of the journey. So as I go into the rest of my senior year I plan on doing my best to be an example to my fellow underclassmen of what not to do when you come to college. If I had any advice to give to them it would be to always form relationships with all types of people from all walks of life even those younger than you. For the reason that you never know whose life you may influence or what you may learn yourself. Now, I am not saying there is something wrong with having older friends as they will be able to give you very good advice on a lot of experiences that they have been through but also be open minded.

My advice. Never underestimate the underclassmen.

UMES Family!

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The Real Life @ UMES Blog is written by students. It is a place for our commentary and opinions about what life is really like @ the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. It is not designed to express the views and opinions of the University as a whole. Peace.

 

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