Freshmen at Large - Cristine Mayer Pt. 2

Ten howdys and only one map check later, I finally made it to my History 105 class. And when I say I made it, I mean I really made it. Twenty minutes early, to be exact.
When you have to leave your dorm at 8:15 a.m., it’s not much of an incentive to arrive early. But that gleaming, front row, center seat — now, that’s incentive. It seems that most people strive for the back row — the row that allows you to doze off unnoticed or to finish reading that last section of your text that you didn’t finish last night.
But not me. Nope. Sophomore year of high school, on my last day of class, my AP World History teacher, Mr. Rowland, gave a speech on the importance of sitting front and center to show participation and general interest. I never thought I would ever think about his speech again, but here I am, three years later.
Besides being extra early and having awesomely close seating, the main excitement of my day came from all the “howdys” I received. Now, I know what a boot chaser is and, let me clarify, I am not one. But every time another Aggie says “howdy” to me, it just makes my day that much better. Seeing the corps cadets all over campus and hearing all their howdys just made me feel that much more proud. And for all those 2 percenters out there, please just say “howdy” for goodness sake.
Personally, I thought the first few days of class would be the beginning of an emotional breakdown for me. But it was all but that. Everyone was friendly and not one of my professors seemed unwilling to help their students succeed. While study time will be a must, a good GPR is not something unreachable. I’m almost excited about going to class, since they all seem like good freshmen courses. All in all, I think this will be a good first semester here as an Aggie, and I can’t wait for my first Midnight Yell, Fightin’ Texas Aggie football game and, of course, learning.

The Aggie Song - Reconstructed - from Whorehouse Movie

Freshmen at Large - Stephanie Hodges Pt. 2

Imagine it: 700 lip-glossed, high-lighted hopefuls sweating profusely through their specifically selected sun-dresses for hours. The make-up is slowly dripping down their faces and side bangs are stuck on foreheads due to extreme perspiration. Welcome to sorority recruitment!
I guess everyone wonders why, with such a grotesque description, any girl would choose to go through rush. Somewhere between the 20-minute conversations with strangers and the intense humidity (a sudden death to any type of hair style.), rush loses its polished appearance. I chose to rush because I was curious. I had heard horror stories about cross-cuts, dehydration and humiliation, but I wanted to know what this whole sorority thing was really about.
When we got to the first house, I had no idea what to expect. Would it be like fish camp, where the girls would run out in crazy costumes? Would they be dressed up like country club members and serve us earl grey tea?
No!
Instead, they banged on the sorority house’s doors, singing and chanting away about something “Kappa Omega Beta” and how everyone wants to be one. Not to be cliché, but it was Greek to me.
So here we are, sweating and getting horrible tan lines, waiting for the banging and screaming to stop so we can walk into some sort of shade. Then, the doors fly open, the cool air is felt 50 feet back, and we all remember why we’re here. In a matter of minutes, each “rusher” is paired up with a glowing, grinning girl and escorted into different rooms.
At first, due to slight awkwardness and a bit of shock, the conversations between the pairs are aimed toward the grueling heat or apologies for sweaty backs when hugs are given. Then, the two move onto heavier issues.
For example: “Your dress is so cute. Where did you get it?” or “I love your hair! Is it naturally curly?”
These topics could keep a girl talking for a good five to 10 to 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes is up, the “rushees” delicately push the “rushers” out of the house into the humidity again.
The following nights were similar, and by the end of the week, it wasn’t too hard to see which sorority was for me. I wanted to be one of the smiling, singing, door-banging girls behind the stately double-doors, but not only that, I wanted to be in a specific sorority, a sorority that fits me. I anxiously awaited bid day, when I would find out which sorority had chosen me.
Now that I’m settled in my sorority, having taken part in not only a sleep over, but a dance party and official meeting as well, I’m so grateful. I took the time to sweat and stammer my way through conversations for a week.
It was hard work, but I got four amazing years out of it — not to mention 200 new sisters!

Freshmen at Large - Cristine Mayer Pt. 1

Howdy ya’ll! My name is Cristine. I am a freshman Telecommunication Media Studies major from The Woodlands, Texas. But more importantly I am the proudest member of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie class of 2010!
I’ve been a Texan my whole life and have enjoyed every blistering hot moment of it. Community service and music have always been favorite activities of mine. I think I’d tried almost every instrument imaginable, until I settled with the drums for a few years. This year, I decided to settle with just being the listener, not the player. My iPod is usually stuck somewhere in-between Coldplay, Sufjan Stevens, the Arcade Fire and Radiohead — but really I listen to it all.
Coming from a school with a graduating class of nearly 1,200 students, I figured a large school like Texas A&M would be a breeze. Now I’m starting to realize that 4,000 vs. 40,000 plus in a school is quite a difference. As the oldest child of three, my departure for college has definitely been one of the more eventful moments in our family history.
This summer, I spent a lot of time working and enjoying my last few weeks of no responsibility. Of course there was the inevitable: the New Student Conference (NSC). Luckily, I somehow ended up signing up for a conference with people I knew. But nonetheless, I’ll never forget the overwhelming feeling I felt that first time I logged on to myrecord.tamu.edu to register for my first classes. I remember thinking that I only needed to race to register for one class because all the others had plenty of spots. And in all of the two seconds it took me to sign up for that class, the spot had already been filled. Not the most encouraging experience for a freshman used to her high school counselor pretty much making her entire schedule. But NSC was where I first got psyched to be a Texas A&M fish. I remember sitting in Rudder thinking to myself “this is going to be my life next year, and you know what? I can’t wait.”
So, like I said, NSC was the beginning of my Aggie spirit. But when I say beginning, oh, I mean, it really was merely the beginning. I don’t think I ever knew the extent of enthusiasm for Texas A&M until I went to Fish Camp. Being at Session A was probably the best choice I was ever given. At first it was a bit overwhelming, but Camp Hatfield made me feel like I had a family at Texas A&M before I had even lived in College Station for a night. I was lucky enough to be in a DG with leaders who were absolutely amazing as well being in a camp where everyone seemed to be excited to be there. It’s a once in a lifetime thing, and it’s something I think will have always made my life here at Texas A&M just that much more enjoyable.
But when it comes down to it, expectations of Midnight Yell Practice, football games and everything in-between are what have gotten me through these past few weeks before the start of school. Knowing that a land filled with maroon pride awaited my fellow classmates and me. So, class of 2010, let’s get pumped. Gig ‘em!

Freshmen at Large - Stephanie Hodges Pt. 1

Dang it. I’m about 27 hangers short, I brought way too many mesh laundry bags to stuff into my microscopic closet space and this box of cereal has literally been devoured within the last 20 minutes. Dorm life definitely does not fit into the dreamy, heaven-on-earth description plastered on every page of Bed, Bath and Beyond’s “Extreme Dorm Edition;” but guess what? I love it.
Yeah, I’m a freshman — a clueless, fresh-out-of-high-school, dorm-dwelling freshman, and in all honesty, I am pretty proud of it.
Let me introduce myself.
Howdy, my name is Stephanie Hodges, and I am a freshman communications major from The Woodlands, Texas, but most importantly, I am the proudest member of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of 2010. AAAAAAAA!
As I mentioned earlier, I am one of countless freshmen that will be pathetically staggering around campus in a futile attempt to find my PSYC 107 class within the next few weeks.
However, as innumerable as my classmates may be, I have found over the past few weeks that here at A&M, I am less of an insignificant number and more of an individual.
My new student conference is what first showed me that A&M cared about me more as a member of its community than as an extra name to add to admissions. All my friends at Baylor, Oklahoma and even the infamous t.u. went to their colleges’ orientations and, to be perfectly honest, I think they were pretty jealous that their orientations didn’t include full-out yell practice and small group time.
Yeah, it was awkward, but hey, it took the stress off of registration and gave everyone a few more names to search for on Facebook. What was so impressive was the fact that A&M cares enough about its students to make something as monotonous as orientation into a social event, providing us with the opportunity to meet people not only from our majors but from all over the freshman class.
As if an interactive, entirely entertaining orientation were not enough, Fish Camp came two months later. Who would ever have known that driving into a parking lot of literally insane, multi-colored counselors would end in full-fledged crying sessions and reluctant goodbyes? And now 42 friend requests, 11 messages and 33 wall posts later, I’m sitting here in my dorm, staring at these four walls I can call my own. However, despite the rapidly escalating amount of students around me, I feel at home. Because of A&M’s countless attempts to draw my classmates and me deeper into the Aggie community, we know that we belong here at A&M, no matter how many times we forget where our classes are. I can speak for my class when I say that we feel completely prepared for what college may bring.
Get ready, Texas A&M. The class of 2010 is on campus. Bring it on.