Personal Narrative: My Experience With Ursa

When the opportunity to sign up for Ursa was presented to me I was unsure If I wanted to give up my last week at home to start school early. I decided to take the class because it seemed like it would be an easy way to get some credits done. When It came down to the week before I left I was actually pretty upset with myself for signing up for Ursa. I had friends at home who were moving and I knew that I would likely never see some of them again. I wanted to stay home as long as I could to see all of them. However, once I arrived at Ursa I know that I had made the right choice. It turns at that taking part in this program was one of the most influential things I have ever done for myself. I learned how to make friends with people I didn’t know, …show more content…
I immediately utilized this new skill appone arriving on campus. One the first things I did after moving into my room was go around to every open door on my floor and introduce myself to everyone. This is something that I would have been far too afraid to do had I never done Ursa. On the second day that I was on campus, I still knew almost nobody since I was from out of state, I was in the hub trying to meet people, once again something I never would have done had I not participated in Ursa, and I approached two guys sitting at a table and made conversation with them. It turns out that they were roommates and are both very good friends of mine today. I attribute almost all of the friends I have made on campus to the social skills that I acquired in Ursa. I am currently pledging a fraternity, and I used these skills to make friends at rush events, and to make friends with the brothers once I accepted a …show more content…
At home I never had to share my room, and at Ursa I shared a room with seven people. By the end of the trip I had changed my habits from home, mostly making sure I cleaned up after myself, to accommodate to my peers wishes. After all the room belong to all of us, so it was each person 's responsibility to keep it clean and respect the others living in the room. This principle extended outside of the room too. Since this was a hostile all guests shared everything. Even though I hated doing dishes, this small chore taught me that it was my responsibility to respect everyone else who would be using those dishes and make sure they were clean. Sharing a room with seven people for a week also opened my mind to people with different backgrounds, personalities, and habits. All of us living in that room came from a different area, had different lifestyles, and interests. In high school almost all of the people I was friends with were similar to my self. This meant that I had little experience dealing with people different from me, and I honestly did not always keep an open mind. Living with seven people that I just met for a week made me realize that there is nothing wrong with people being different from you. I also learned how to be part of a group and make sure that I respected other people 's wishes while in the room and around the hostel. This lesson is still active in my life today. I