When I first came to college I could relate to Max. I was in this new environment and everything around me seemed new and foreign. My old dwelling and surroundings turned into this “forest” over night. I had no mom telling me to clean my room, to shower, or to eat healthy. I came to this forest and found myself surrounded by wild things! Scary lecture classes with three hundred plus students, a meal plan i quite didn’t understand, clubs I don’t know how to join because I get bombarded with too many emails, and people who I’ve never met in my life. I was completely torn out of my bubble and thrust into the midst of the wild. The teachers showed me “their terrible roars” with essays and midterms, and these strange peers showed “their terrible claws” and worked harder and played harder than any other kids I know. In the story Max was able to tame these wild things and become the king. It’s hard coming to college and hard to adapt to all these new strange things around us, but, as max teaches us, “if you surrender to the wind, you can ride it.” If we accept that we have to write essays, accept that we are going to have to eventually meet new people, and accept that a class of three hundred is no big deal we can succeed. It took some time to adopt this mentality at first because it seems like you are succumbing to peer-pressure and just trying to conform instead of being unique. In reality you are just accepting the way things are and learning how to survive in this jungle. The best part of this book is that no matter where I am, I know I can always go back home to a loving family like max came back to find his supper waiting for him.
I couldn't agree more with this analogy. I went to a very small, private high school with a graduating class of 75 kids. I had known 40 of them since I was 5, and felt comfortable and in place whenever I was around them. Then, coming to a school like Michigan, with 6,500 kids in my grade, I was extremely intimidated. The one thing I admire about Max the most in "Where the Wild Things Are" is that he stood up to the wild things, and made sure he stayed true to himself, just like Josh talked about. This is what I tried and am trying to do at Michigan. When you are in an unfamiliar environment, the only way you will succeed is to stay true to what you know is right. Yes, it is inevitable that you will change and grow. However, this is a good thing. As long as you stay true to your moral compass, like Max did, good things will happen, and you will get respect from the people around you.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Josh's post. At home I was used to being surrounded by the same group of people everyday. I had a group of eleven friends, and we did everything together. Whether it was dinner every Friday night, or taking weekend trips, I was surrounded by the same, familiar, eleven people. Coming to school, everything changed and I was no longer in my comfort zone. Getting used to college took some time, and about twenty thousand phone calls to my older sister, but as Josh said once we accept that things are different, we can grow as people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Josh. My hometown is extremely small. There aren't any malls for at least three hours. My school was also small, everyone knew everyone, and half the people are related to one another. So coming to this university was a complete change of scenery. To me, AnnArbor is a HUGE town and the school is even bigger. Its so crazy that I meet so many people welcome week that I haven't seen since. But coming here is really helping me grow as a person. I am very lucky to have the experience of a small community and now of a larger one.
ReplyDeleteI really understand and relate to the comparison of Max's journey and beginning the college life. Do you think, though, that college is not like the "real world," and at some point we'll have to return to it and find jobs in it after college is over? I always think it's interesting how people say things like, "This isn't high school anymore, this is the real world." Was high school not the real world? What was it, then? A fake, imaginary world where nothing we did mattered? I like to think that, like anything else, high school and college are parts of the real world in their own right, and that there isn't a moment that what we do starts being "real". That also says to me, though, that there is no "safety net" beneath me, and that I can't fall back on my parents or anyone else once college is over. This is part of the real world, and we're learning to make it by ourselves from here on out.
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