StoutArticleReview

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=**Freshman Year 1st reading response**:=

I found that the most interesting part of this story was that the anthropologist decided to go back to college and relive their freshman year. It was very interesting how they had to acclimate themselves to the social life around them. They had to learn what to and not to do in college (like drinking beer in the public lounge) and had to learn all the college 'lingo'. This reading offered insight to me in many ways. The writer was nervous about coming back to college and reliving their freshman yr. This made me realize that everyone should be nice to others especially when new students are nervous about their freshman year. Some issues that were involved in this story include the writer getting into trouble for having alcohol in the dorms when they weren't aloud. Dropping two courses so that they did not have a heavy work load. Other issues that were brought up were dorm life, RA's jobs, and interviewing students to see what they do for fun in college. I agree with RA's jobs to decorate, hang important materials for the hall, and invite residents to activities and programs. I do not agree with student's destroying RA decorations. I was a really interesting story to read about.

=Freshman Year 2nd reading response:=

The main points that I thought that were very important in this article were being in a community with other people.I like how Nathan makes it clear that being with a community and people you share commons interests is necessary to have a successful college life.

The beginning of this article discusses freshman coming to AnyU for the first time and their orientation weekend. The writer was required to read a book for her freshman year. All of her fellow classmates had to read as well. Afterward a course for the summer reading was available for students to take. The writer thought that she had an impressive instructor while the rest of her classmates said that they, "had no choice and that they had to take it".(Nathan, 2005) Then the article starting getting into students becoming more involved on campus and 'communities'. If a student didn't see something they would like to do, they were encouraged to start their own club. The writer's RA that lived on their floor wanted the hallway to become more involved as a floor together.

I really relate to this because I am a CA (which is the same as an RA) and I think that is important to get all of your residents involved with something together as a floor. The RA is trying to build a community with residents on her floor, however they do not seem interested. The RA's floor decided on movie night as an activity that they could all do together, but it was easy for the RA to become discouraged because no one would show. Then the writer got into talking about Greek life and that is something I have never been apart of on campus at Bloomsburg. I am happy with the clubs and organizations that I am involved with, and I do not want to pursue any time being in a Sorority. The reason why I wouldn't want to join a community like Greek life is because I feel as if I wouldn't find common interests with other girls there. And even if I would find common interests we both share, that doesn't mean that I will necessarily get along with them.

I agree with Nathan when she states, "despite the belief that college expands our social horizon and extends our experience to include new and different types of people; the findings suggest otherwise. The most significant relationships are formed either before college or very early ill one's college career...such as freshman dorm assignment." I support that because I see many girls form friendships with people they meet their freshmen year, and sometimes they do not want to venture out and meet other people.

=Freshman Year 3rd reading response:=

This part of __My Freshman Year__ was by far my favorite to read. I thought that it was very intriguing and easy to hooked on. Nathan mentioned a lot of things in this portion of the book such as hanging out with same groups of people. I find it sad that foreign exchange students feel ostracized by Americans and end up just making friends with each other because no one else will be friendly to them. I never thought that I was that way, or at least I hope that I do not act like that. When I read that all of those fake friendly encounters that foreign exchange students had with Americans, I couldn't believe it. I assumed that Americans were always friendly and welcoming to people from different countries. Everyone should be friendly towards one another, especially in college. College is a whole new ball game for most young adults and foreigners who are coming from different parts of the world deserve to be more nervous. American's should have the responsibility to make foreigners feel welcome. I was very pleased to see that Nathan was able to make friends with the exchange students. It was very sweet of her to make dinner for them. However, it is evident of how our culture is extremely different from another culture. Nigel, an exchange student from England, told Nathan that when he has friends over, they hang out with their parents too and are very friendly. He even mentions that if he is not home yet and his friend gets there before he does, the friend will hang out with his parents. His friends' parents even buy him birthday presents. Their culture is very different from ours because as Alicia from Mexico put it, "Friendship is very superficial here." She believes that friendship is fake here because one will ask to hang out and the two will exchange numbers but then will never here from them again. I agree and disagree with Alicia. I have never been in her shoes, so I can not imagine what it feels like to not have true friends and act very fake towards oneself, however not all Americans act like the people that treated her wrongly. I speak for many Americans when I say that we are welcoming people and very friendly. I know plenty of people that have foreign exchange students come to their home and live in America for months. The Americans that those foreign exchange students met were a small percentage in America. Not all Americans act like that. I am sensitive to this topic because I am offended that those foreign exchange students assumed and stereotyped other Americans of doing that. It was nice that Nathan proved them wrong by taking them in and making them feel welcome.