Today is the day before I start my new job at a private, urban institution as a Residence Life Coordinator. To say that I am excited would be a major understatement. I am super pumped. I am also a little nervous about starting a new job from scratch. Thankfully, I am not replacing anyone – the department is just expanding so I won’t have to fill any shoes exactly but I am still going to be considered a newbie armed with questions and totally clueless about the workings of the institution.
I am also working on my Master’s Degree in College Student Development and this first semester at this new institutions is going to count towards my internship requirement because I am working professionally. Anyways, I figured a blog to highlight the ups and downs of the first year of my life on a new campus would be appropriate to share with my colleagues and professors and also a good venue to vent to the world should the need arise.
My first professional job was…(hum…) a good learning experience (that is the nicest way I can put it.) I was there for two years as an Area Coordinator and those were two of the hardest most frustrating years of my adult life. I’m a young adult but nevertheless, they were tough. I was in a town that was known for their close proximity to 4 super-walmarts, my apartment was filled with spiders the size of my hand and the supervision was interesting (also the best way to put that.) Thankfully, my students were AMAZING. I would have had a hard time making it two years if they were not so awesome and they are why I am in the field in the first place. Anyways, with little to no guidance on being a professional and working in student affairs, I made the best of what I had, which was nothing besides my students and one fabulous co-worker from the greatest state in the union (you know who you are). Getting off campus for my graduate course work made things a little easier and I loved what I was learning but with a very intense, micro-managing boss and little support from the department, I soon started checking for job openings. Although this sounds completely miserable, there were a lot of happy things that happened to me while I was there. I got a dog, finished two years of master’s work and got married to the love of my life. These are huge life changing things and all very happy things that might not have happened (well, the dog part at least) if I had not worked there so that worked out happily…thankfully.
Originally, I had planned on staying at that institution for one more year until I got my degree but when this position was posted, I knew I wanted to give it a shot. Now here I am, three months later, in a wonderful city starting a new promising job in Residence Life. I’ll keep this updated with highs and lows and everything in between as often as possible. Photos are coming soon too – feel free to comment and share your experiences!
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