When you remember your First Week, I’m sure you will all remember the dread of having to go to some various activity with a FYEM who was too peppy, sitting next to people you’ve never met and thinking you would much rather just be sitting in your room. Why would anyone make you spend an entire week before classes start getting out of bed early, meeting at some Millikin landmark, whether that be the Bronze Man or the statue of Abe Lincoln, and walking like a herd of wild animals or kindergartners to a random activity. And don’t we all just love those ice breaker games that involve us waiting to run into a circle of people and yelling out our name and major, all the while hoping we don’t forget either of the two details everyone will spend a week asking us?

So, my question is why? Why would Millikin ever make you participate in such an awkward week? The answer is, if they didn’t, you probably wouldn’t have very many friends. As awkward as the experience is, you are not the only one who thinks so, except maybe for those overzealous FYEMS, but they’ve been training for this week.

Every kid you meet, is thinking the exact same things, “I would rather be in my room,” “Please don’t sit by me” and “I wonder if my parents are getting along without me.” Knowing that, you share mutual feelings of separation and anxiety about the experience and let it be what brings you together. Suffering through probably one of the most awkward weeks of your life with someone else will bond the two of you together better than you could imagine. Not to mention you get to make friends with people of so many diverse interests and majors.

First Week gives you the chance to settle. This is a huge change for you. Most of you have never been away from home knowing you probably won’t see your family until Oct. Some of you may have never been responsible for waking yourself up in the morning or operating a washer and dryer. First Week allows you to walk a little more confidently into your first week of college classes knowing you have at least some of your act together. It will ease you into the all the adventures you will come to have here at Millikin. So, be thankful for those FYEMS whose job it is to guide you, help you, and make sure you don’t become a complete hermit, because they don’t want to be up early in the morning either. It’s easy to remember everything negative about First Week, but be glad it happened, because you needed it more than you will probably ever admit to anyone.