January 12, 2015

The Week I Found True Friendship

The Twelfth Family

     One week ago today, I moved to college. Nervous about being forced into a group of eleven other people, I feared rejection, the label of outcast, and solitude for an entire week. This is not what I found. Within hours of moving in, setting up my computer, and taking the compass test yet again, I met my college family for the week. It was composed of four other guys, five girls, and two "parents" who were a mom and pop to us. We introduced ourselves before orientation and learned what each other's names were and where we all lived. The fear of being invisible at another school hung over me like a storm cloud looming in the distance, or buzzards waiting for a rotting piece of meat on the ground. 

     The following day, we participated in a team building challenge course. It's amazing how well simple activities can bring a group of people together in such small ways. That same night, we met with another family that we call cousins. We were meant to work together to put on a show with a theme and pre-selected music. That storm cloud started to look a little less daunting at that point.

     The third day was where everything started to come together for me. We had been eating every meal together and had a community service project of washing flower pots all day. It wasn't the most exciting thing to do, but it all matters who you're spending your time with! That night, there was a family vs. family Olympic competition followed by a family vs. family dodgeball tournament. We were victorious! The crowd went wild as we rushed the court in celebration. Our family went out to Kum and Go for drinks as a family, as friends, and as a team. 

     The next day went by rather slowly without much activity. We did another session of community service followed by a lot of relaxation, and to top off the night, we had a coffee house. That night was one of the roughest; realizing how close we were to finishing camp got me a little upset. But the night went on, and we all had a blast. I couldn't ask for a more supportive family. 

     The next day was a blast. After all of the mandatory presentations from deans and speakers, we as a family and cousin family went to the mall and did a scavenger hunt for pictures. Every team tied (team 1, my team, won). After dinner, we all went on stage for the show we had all practiced for a couple days before. We didn't win, but it was a blast getting punted by a Hulk and duking it out with the villain from Iron Man 2. 

     The next day, the second to last day of camp, we attended our first basketball game. We beat the other school by at least 20 points. (I think) our mother and a brother won coupons to Domino's pizza, so we ordered pizza for dinner that night. We all sat in a circle and got to take turns sharing our personal life stories. At that point, none of us could say that we had room to grow as friends. We were all friends to the 100% level. We could only grow as a legitimate family from then on.

     The last day was full of pictures, fellowship, and the oh-so-glorious joy of watching our brother try to figure out how to eat with etiquette. We spent as much time together as possible after that, and as soon as we went our separate ways, we all just instantly missed each other. The many lessons we learned from each other, for example: Don't leave anything unsaid. Don't let opportunities pass you by because you will never know who you will bless at any point in time. And that undermined lesson: Don't judge a book by its cover. I cannot express how much I love my college family and I know we'll all be close for the rest of...well...ever.