Welcome to College!

my first meeting with mertz


(my home away from home)


sarah encounters swat


I huddled nervously in the front seat of our rental car, which smelled slightly of stale potato chips, chewing my lower lip ras, and nervously tapping my foot against the giant backpack that rested at my feet. My dad and I were headed into the great unknown, the unseen wilds of Pennsylvania, the jungle they call Swarthmore. I stared out my window, holding my breath, and hoping to get the first glimpse of my new home away from home, Mertz Hall...

My actual arrival on campus was rather anticlimactic. We read a road sign that directed us to the parking circle in front of Mertz, so there we drove. For a brief moment I saw a rather institutional looking building, but then I was accosted by the plethora of CA's that waited to "help" me with my stuff. They welcomed me, gave me all twelve of their names, and marveled that I had managed to compact everything that I will need fro the next year into two suitcases and a giant backpack. I sweated, my dad sweated, and we drug my luggage up to my room in my new home away from home, Mertz Hall...

Although in my state of initial shock I didn't appreciate my new home away from home, Mertz Hall, to its fullest, now that I have spent more time in it, I am learning to love the burlap walls that look like they should be used as giant belletin boards but are as hard as cinderblock, I have bonded with the unusual mold that grows on the shower curtains and in the cracks of the tiles in the bathroom, I even enjoy learning more about the insects that fly into our room when our window is open because we have no screen. I think that my new home away from home, Mertz Hall, is a wonderful place to live.


"It's so hot in here, I feel like I'm menouposing!"

-Jenny, commenting on the temperature of my new home away from home, Mertz Hall