Over the
last few days I got to talk to a lot of people about my experiences as a
resident assistant at college. I always looooved that position, but it wasn’t until
later that I realized how many people I got to know well during my years as an
RA, what an amazing staff I had both years, and the huge impact that that job
had and has in my life.
Far more
than a job, it was a lifestyle. My first year as an RA I had residents not only
from the US but also a bunch of international students. One of my first days, I
remember stopping by the rooms to say Hi and check on the girls… I stopped to
say Hi to a girl from Korea, it was like 2pm, but she was sleeping and asked me
why would I wake her up in the middle of the night?! Haha… because of the time
difference, she wasn’t over her jetlag and I happened to wake her up at 3am her
time in Korea.
Sometimes I
was so much of a sweet mamma, where I would cook for the girls anything they
wanted, would give them milk for their cereal, would talk to them when they
couldn’t fell asleep, or would help them with homework. But other times (most
of the times) I would prank my residents with other residents. I would hack
their facebook account, change their alarm clocks, put their undies in their
freezers, and some other thing I can’t tell because it was hard enough to come
up with creative but funny ideas that wouldn’t really hurt anybody and would
just make us all laugh. The down side of that is that eventually people figured
out that I was pranking them, and even when I didn’t do anything I got pranked
back.
One of the
best parts of my job was organizing wing events, we could be as creative as we
wanted with them, and my wing events went all the way from having Disney nights
to making brunch with the girls. Yet, the best part of my job was getting to
really know the residents in my hall, my building, and the Res Life staff
community.
Each person
I got to meet shared a piece of their heart and lives with me, and it’s been an
honor to be a part of their lives as well. Now as the time goes by, I see how
our lives change and most of us depart to different destinations… but all the
laughter and joy, all the good memories from that amazing experience will always
stay with me.