"the road is now a sudden sea"

I am sitting on my dorm bed – complete with bed risers so as to fit what seems as my entire world underneath. My bed lies horizontal against the window – which overlooks the beautiful brick McMurran Hall complete with enormous, elegant white pillars. It looks about the length of 3 football fields, although I’m sure I’m exaggerating this quite a bit. All my English classes meet there. I love that building.

I am listening to Dashboard Confessional…on headphones, of course. Oh, roommates. Rare are the opportunities to openly listen to music. So, with reluctance, I allow the music to be confined to my ears alone. Alle is sitting across the room absorbed in a book, completely unaware that I am blasting the “ohh ohh oh’s” of “Don’t Wait.” Outside, people roughly between 18-25 walk across the large green lawn that separates my residence hall, Potomac North, from the vast McMurran. You’ll see some on bikes, but most walk. I like to think about their stories as I look out my 3rd floor window. What classes they’re heading to, what food content fills their dining hall Styrofoam to-go containers, who lives on campus, who lives off, who’s from out of state, who’s from down the street, who’s homesick, who’s using college as an escape from home, who spends their weekends wasted, who spends their weekends studying. I have met so many different people here. People who are drastically different from me and people who are so similar that I’m floored with excitement and assurance about the next two years. I’ve always known diversity occurs among different cultures and countries, but it’s amazing the diversity I’ve experienced from fellow Virginians. Virginia seems to become so big when you're constantly meeting people from different towns – towns you’ve never visited or even heard about.

I have come to love these people. I love dreading a statistics group project the second week of the semester – only to end up being awake until 3 a.m. with Doritos, Dr. Pepper, frequency distributions, and 3 of the most hilarious and accepting girls ever. I love that beautiful girl who greets me with a hug, smiles as she talks, and gushes about things like faith and friendship. I love Christopher Newport University and finally feeling like I belong somewhere, that I fit somewhere. I love the quiet of the mornings, the challenging courses, the brisk walks across campus, the buffalo chicken wraps at the dining hall, the enormity of the library that swallows you as you study, the row of practice rooms in the Ferguson Center with sound proof walls and a lone piano...where the raw music is created, the writing classes where we dissect grammar for a full 50 minutes, the student pride and noise during the football games, hockey games, etc., the late night commotion, the freedom, the professors, the obsessive love between my hallmates, the continuous laughter with newfound best friends, the view from my window, and the homey feel of my new room.

- d