| Rolla Undergraduate Or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the University |
|
|
| Written by Andrea Unnerstall | |
|
Rolla claims to be the “middle of everywhere”, but when I prepared to transfer here in the fall from St. Louis University I braced myself for living in the middle of nowhere. I transferred not because I disliked my previous school; I loved it in St. Louis. There was always something going on, new places to check out, and a movie theater that accepted debit. I came to Rolla because I believed it would be the best place for my academic goals. And when I came to Rolla I mentally prepared myself to abandon any type of social life I might have had for a hard engineering course load. Of course I had heard all of the bad stereotypes and horror stories about Rolla from alumni and current students so when I arrived in the fall I had absolutely zero expectations. The one expectation I had was that I would hate going to school here. From what I had heard I expected to never see a girl in my classes, for nerds to overflow the campus, and to have nothing to do on the weekends. Stereotypes, while for the majority are untrue, they do tend to be based on some fact. I did see less girls on campus, and the girls I did see hardly resembled the designer bag wearing, preppy dressed girls I had witnessed at SLU. While walking to classes I would hear conversations previously thought uncommon, conversations about physics, video games, renaissance fairs, and I even learned there are such things as math jokes. I couldn’t grasp the fact that my roommates and I would get whistled at by passing pick up trucks on our way back from the gym in shorts and t-shirts, while my friends and I at SLU would spend over an hour getting ready on the weekends to get even a small bit of attention from guys. While I was still in denial that I was a Miner, I decided to give the school a chance. I forced myself to go out and meet the people that made up this school I was so against. I decided to do things I enjoyed in attempts to find people who might share similar interests. I joined KMNR, The Missouri Miner, and started playing recreational volleyball. Once I was doing things I enjoyed the school became less and less of an enemy and started to gain a homey feel. I actually started staying down here on the weekends and amazingly found myself going out and having fun. The fun I had in Rolla was different, not better or worse, than the fun I had in St. Louis. Bonfires replaced hanging out in Forest Park, the house parties replaced the bars and dance clubs, and St. Pat’s made Mardi Gras look like a Thanksgiving parade. I soon realized that my college experience in Rolla was different than in St. Louis, but essentially it still shared many of the things I had loved about my previous school. Gaining friends increased Rolla’s appeal one hundred fold; the city became so much more bearable once I found other people who were forced to be in Rolla too. “We’re all in this thing together so let’s make the most of it,” was the type of attitude I acquired instead of being in Rolla and hating it by myself. The school work is much harder, but on the weekends it gives everyone a reason to let loose. I do encounter a few more “nerds” but really they are just people who have different and unique interests, who make my days on campus that much more interesting. The city of Rolla is a bit boring, but it makes each weekend a challenge. You have to make your own fun and you usually find very creative ways to spend your time. It is impossible for me to compare my experience I had at SLU to what I am going through at Rolla; the campus, the city, the people seemed to be exact opposites of each other. But after a semester finished at UMR and almost a semester done at MST, I have come to enjoy being on this campus. I have made the best of what I thought to be a bad situation and turned it into a pretty successful school year. So for those of you who think that this year wasn’t everything you thought it would be, look back at everything you’ve accomplished throughout the year – the friends you’ve made, the memories you’ve created, and remind yourself that Rolla isn’t so bad after all. |
| < Prev |
|---|
