Circle Response #1 (Pg 1-71)

It is natural for human beings to learn how to get involved in a new community because we acquire the sense of belongings in our life. As a "newbie" to Penn State, I was fortunate enough to discover this sense of belongings by the third week at Penn State. Same for Mae, she has participated in her new environment successfully by her first Friday, severing "436 customers" and having "memorized the boilerplates"(Eggers 55). In general, Mae and I have shared some similar aspects in participating in our new environments.

On 1 April, I accepted the offer of admission of Penn State at University Park. I had chosen Penn State as my home for the next four years. My mother was so proud of me, just like how Mae's father is proud of Mae of being employed by The Circle. During the ISO (international student orientation) week, I was appreciate for my group leaders touring me around the campus, to the Pattee Library, to the Palmer Museum of Art, to every buildings where I am going to have classes. Mae receives the same help from those passionate people in The Circle, Annie, Dan, Josiah, Denise and a lot more people. With the incessant "We Are" chants roaring through my first week, the feeling of being part of the community becomes significantly strong. I felt the same as Mae thought after her tour around the company, "Mae knew that she never wanted to work—never wanted to be—anywhere else"(Eggers 31). The eagerness and the enthusiasm has reinforced my belief of being a Penn Stater.

Moreover, another aspect that Mae and I both share is the experience about the community's facilities and activities. The Circle has "180 rooms" for employees to rest after party and also shuttles ensure they arrive home safely. When facing a brand new surrounding, I naturally seek for anything that makes me feel comfortable of the way I used to live. Penn State provides shuttles for freshmen to buy bedding and room decorations, as well as each commons serves great foods, entertainments, and so on. With those supplement of life necessities, I gained a feeling of being home. Additionally, the club fair on HUB lawn gave me a sense of engagement, same as the dorm floor meeting and college meeting. I was willing to meet people who share the same interests or hold the same goal. All those facilities and activities make me integrate into the community with more ease.

Besides the same feeling of pride and being home, there comes the most ordinary and interesting part of being a "newbie"—being lost in the vast campus. I clearly remember my first day of school. If I walked without Google Map, I would be completely lost in this giant maze. Those buildings' names are difficult to remember, and even hard to read, such as "Sackett" "Boucke"(In fact, don't laugh, when I first heard this name, I was wandering how could a building be named as "Cookie"). I always carefully looked up the route to each building in case of lateness to classes, and it turned out I ironically got to classrooms plenty of time earlier. Walking across the campus, I can't help myself stopping for the charm of the architecture. Just as Mae was fascinated with that "the campus was vast and rambling, wild with Pacific color, and yet the smallest detail had been carefully considered, shaped by the most eloquent hands"(Eggers 1). Like every other freshmen, I usually walked with a face full of confusion for my first couple days.

Being involved in a community is always the primary thing people would do because human beings are social animals. We need to join in a community to attain the sense of affirmation. Both Mae and I have shared similarities in our experience, mine at Penn State and hers at The Circle. The concept of involvement reinforces the feeling of being welcome and united.