A More Than Warm Welcome!

Hi everyone! My name is Jalen Causey, and I just wanted to formally introduce myself for my first post. I’m new to all of this, and so coming to Carleton has been an adventure, really. We’ve had Move-In Day, New Student Week, and we’re officially starting classes today! It’s been beyond hectic, but I think it’s been an amazing experience as well.

First, Move-In Day happened on Tuesday, September 10^th. All of the freshmen were introduced to the campus, allowed to move into dorms, and to meet their groups and group/peer leaders for the week. I wish I could say everything went off without a hitch, but I personally pride myself on my honesty, so that is not how it happened.

Not many Carls can say their bedding and linens were lost and they weren’t able to recover them for the next three days, and honestly that’s great. If this was common, that wouldn’t be a good thing. I did eventually get them, and in the in-between time, various peer leaders, my Area Director, and ResLife were more than helpful when it came to finding it and providing me linens. Short of that, my family enjoyed Carleton for a short time and left, just like everyone else.

Second, New Student Week (or NSW for short) started the minute we got on campus. I was in Group 23, and we formed an overall really close bond with one another. First, we were most definitely the best because, aside from our group also being our graduation year, we were also… the best group, plain and simple.

While other groups lost people on a consistent basis, essentially our entire group showed up to every planned event (and trust me, they planned every minute of our day and it was exhausting), even when we had breakfast and dinner. Because of that group, I now have some pretty cool freshman friends that I feel comfortable around and eat with every now and then. We even came up with a ridiculous handshake for when we pass each other on campus!

Lastly, our first day of classes. To be open with you all, as I’m writing this, I’ve only been to my first class of the day, so I’m only half done for the day — but even that class was a lot less frightening than I thought it would be. I guess I overthought myself into thinking that college classes were going to be something that you have to be some sort of superhuman in order to conquer.

But, and I’m more than aware it’s only the first day, I think I’m going to be fine. In the same way that all those before me were okay, and anyone who’s scared of their first day will be okay.

Well, talking to you all about my initial experience has been more than gratifying. Thank you all so much for reading this. See you all next week!

Jalen is a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed freshman with the intention of becoming a psychology major. He absolutely loves speech and theater (joining his high school team his freshman year and continuing until his graduation), but is now learning who he is without that activity. Being from the south suburbs of Chicago, Minnesota is something to get used to. But the Carleton experience is open to all, so he is more than excited for his next few years of college! Meet the other bloggers!