New to IU!

Bloomington, Indiana is my new home. I am leaving behind my whole life and starting new where nobody knows my name. I’m not alone though, because one of my good friends, Katie, is going to be my roommate for the next year. My name is Rachel Frazer and I grew up in Terre Haute, Indiana. Terre Haute was my home my entire life and I’m going to miss some of the perks of living there, such as the long country roads and bonfires at night. It’s going to be a brand new experience living in this college town. I wasn’t born with IU pride in my blood, and I actually found myself deciding up until the last minute whether I should attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT) or IU. When I came to IU, however, for a prospective freshman student day, I fell in love with the school and never looked back. I have been here a few days now and I’m soaking in the environment and the feel of campus. I have attended some great Welcome Week activities, such as the Culture Fest and the School of Informatics Ice Cream Social. I also met some great people that already feel like my good friends. I love the open-mindedness of this school, and although it was hard to leave behind my family, my boyfriend, and everything I have ever known, I am confident that I made the right decision to come here. I applied for housing in Central neighborhood, and I was surprised when I got put in Southeast, in Read, and I didn’t really know what to expect. So far, it has been awesome living there and there are a ton of great girls on my floor with all different interests and areas of study. I was surprised because I had heard that Read was all music students but that isn’t the case at all. It’s cool that I’m living with some of the music students that are in the prestigious Jacobs School of Music, though, because even though I’m not a music major, I definitely appreciate their talent and good music!

So what is my major? I am undecided, and in IU’s terms, “exploratory”. Declaring my major as exploratory has been one of the best decisions I have ever made, because as a result, I was informed about the Cox Exploratory Scholarship, and after applying and interviewing, I was selected as a 2011 Cox Scholar. I received a full ride to school, including housing, dining and anything else I may need for the next 4 years. In combination with one other scholarship I received, the Helen I. Smith Scholarship, I am proud and excited to say that I am getting paid to go to the school of my dreams!I am excited to get involved in many of the activities IU has to offer. I was a soccer player all through high school, and I have also enjoyed playing tennis for many years. I think I am going to join an intramural soccer team with some friends, and play tennis in my free time. I also played piano for 10 years, but as I made my transition into high-school four years ago, I had to make choices about what I did and didn’t have time for, and piano didn’t make the cut. But I would like to start playing again, and I think college is a great place for that.

I am happy to say that I’ve been enjoying my time at IU, but I haven’t started classes yet so I will check back in a week ;)

Posted by Rachel