1. Running head: My New Home Page 1
My New Home
Austin Stoll
University of Northern Iowa

2. Running head: My New Home Page 2
All my life I didn’t think that I would go through an experience that changed my life and
made me feel like I learned something about myself that I didn’t think I was going to
ever learn, until the day I moved into my new home at the University of Northern Iowa.
Sure moving away from my friends and family was a tough and nerve racking thing, but
what I was most nervous about, months before I moved in, was doing the one thing that
everyone told me to do over, and over again which was; getting involved on campus
and meeting as many new people as possible.
All my life I lived in a small Iowa town with a population of 1,000 people. So, I
never had to worry about meeting a whole of new people, and if I ever had to meet
someone new I had all my friends and family to make it less awkward, and easier to get
to know that person. As far as getting involved in my community, I never did that in all
my years of Elementary, Middle School, or High School; so when I was told I would
have to start trying to get involved in a different and bigger community that I didn’t know
anybody in was overwhelming to even think about. It wasn’t that my school didn’t have
ways to get involved with school and community activities, it was the fact that they
didn’t offer anything that really caught my attention. In fact, the last time I got involved in
something in my community was when I was 10-13 years old when I joined Boy Scouts.
Even then it took me a couple years to decide that, that was not for me. Do I regret not
sticking with it? Yes, because everyone that stuck with it ended up loving it in the future
years, it looks really good on a resume for any line of work, and it would’ve really helped
me with my community involvement difficulty.

3. Running head: My New Home Page 3
When I first arrived in front of Dancer Hall I was having some mixed feelings. I
was excited because this was the moment I have been waiting for for a long time, I was
going to be on my own without my parents telling me what I can and cannot do. At the
same time, I was scared because I was on my own and I didn’t have my parents to tell
me what I can and cannot do. But again, that was not the problem I was most nervous
about. After my parents left for good I knew I was finally on my own to make all new
friends and try my best to make my way around campus and doing as much around as I
could. At first it was hard because I knew absolutely nobody, but once I finally met my
roommate, later that day, he immediately introduced me to the kids he already met on
our floor. From that point on I knew that the whole time I was nervous was because I
was going to be alone, but I realized I wasn’t going to be alone. From then on I realized
that I didn’t know that I had skills to meet new people everyday, and become good
friends with them in a matter of days and even hours. As far as getting involved on
campus goes, that’s a little bit more of a working progress. I’m starting to learn it’s really
easy to just show up at events without having to have an invite, but now it’s a matter of
finding the motivation to go to things. I would rather go to an event that looks interesting
to me, than go to something just to sit there and go through the motions of the event, or
let the speaker's words go in one ear and right out the other.
I would connect this transition in my life to a book called Orange Is the New Black
by Piper Kerman. This book is about a women (Piper Kerman) that is put in a women’s
prison after committing a drug trafficking crime, and it’s a memoir of her year in prison.
In the book when she first arrives to Danbury, the correctional facility, she has never met
anyone in the prison, and feels very lonely and upset that she has to leave all her

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friends and family. In chapter 3 Kerman is finally sent to her new home in Danbury, and
according to Kerman (2004) “The prison guard and I watched him get into the car. As
soon as he was out of sight, I felt a surge of fear.” This is exactly how I felt when I had to
watch my parents drive away, and leave me in my new home. Although, right away I
had people that made the transition so much easier, and so did Kerman but I had it a lot
easier than her, obviously.
All my life I didn’t think that I would go through an experience that changed my
life and made me feel like I learned something about myself that I didn’t think I was
going to ever learn, until the day I moved into my new home at the University of
Northern Iowa. If you don’t think you have the ability to meet new friends, you couldn’t
be anymore wrong. Sure, it’s going to be tougher for some people than others, but if you
are willing to be the work in to meet new people it would make things a lot easier for
you.