School is about to start is less than 5 days yet it is the time when I begin my senior year at Rochester Institute of Technology after attending there for more than 3 years. It is a very unusual feeling since I have been going to school since before elementary school and am about to leave school for actual work. Going through the photo albums that I have on my Facebook I realized how much I have already accomplished with my life and how much more I can do. I had to arrive at RIT around a week and a half early to attend the Residence Advisor (RA) training programing. This my 3rd year of being an RA yet it still feels like I this is my first time doing it. We have been doing the usual activities with RA training like the previous 2 years with some tweaks. However this year instead of going to the Ropes course we were sent to a local camping ground to stay for the night. I got to better know my fellow staff mates. It was really peaceful and relaxing. One of the few days like that during the usually very busy training days during the week. During my time there I did some team building activities and making some delicious s’mores. Once of the staff member also tried to melt a dime in the fire. I never got a chance the next day to see if it actually got melted.
Besides camping, all of Residence Life gets to have dinner at the RIT President Bill Destler’s Presidential home, go the beach and assisting all the new residents that move in through out the week including the traffic filled Move-In Day on Wednesday. I been reflecting a lot during the week trying to understand who I am and what I want to achieve. I have done many things in my life but there are still more things I want to do. Being so close to graduating really makes me think about the end but I should not dwell too long on that or I will miss out on the present.
This year I have been assigned to the honors dormitory and the interactions I had with my residents this week showed me that maybe I could be more that that “all work no fun guy” or “fun is work and is required.” Everyone so far is getting along and I hope to continue to be a person to help anyone in need. I remember during my freshman year that I was very independent and rarely interacted with my RA at all. It was not a position that I felt was needed for me but as I was accepted in the RA position I realized at how there are people out there who needs that extra hand. While I am giving that extra hand to those who need it, I myself do not seek that. That makes me feel alone and isolated in a world where everyone is connected through various means. As I get closer to graduating, I will be needing that helping hand more than ever as I start in the world of working.
My mother have always encouraged me to go places and see things that I would never see if I was stuck in a work cubical. So far I have been to over 5 countries: United Kingdom, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Taiwan and China. She has signed me up to be an English teacher around when I was in 9th grade for some kids at the Southern Tip of Taiwan. I still believe that was the most rewarding experience I had so far. I saw me making a difference in those children’s lives. It was a very heart wrenching experience when I had to go back home but it is a period of time that I would not forget.
I hope to get the same experience when I became an RA at RIT. It seems really weird that newly graduated high schoolers at like children once they settled in. I have always remembered in high school that those kids always wanted to act and be older but once in college they all want to kids again. I have always wanted to keep my kid side because life is too harsh to not have fun to make it all better. There have been a lot of things on my mind and hope to continue to update my site with my thoughts. It may not be video game related but it help me in creating an experience that can bring the uniqueness of the medium of video games. I thank God for all the opportunities he has giving me but there is still something missing in my life. Hopefully I will be able to find it and become complete.
Memory Log 08-31-2011CE Recorded Complete.
Lawrence Jung 