Feeling nervous about your first day? Worried about waking up to your alarm? Even if you aren't so concerned about picking the perfect outfit for remote learning, you'll probably still feel the first day butterflies! On this week's show, we chat with Hadeel, a recent first-year who was in your shoes just one year ago. Hadeel's enthusiasm and transparency will remind you that you are not alone, as she recounts her experience during her first week navigating life as an AUS-er.
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Host: Welcome to FYE Chats, an AUS podcast. I’m your host, Erica Payne. College is a BIG transition that can be a little overwhelming. We invite you to listen in on candid conversations with the AUS community because we want to see you THRIVE as you begin your First Year Experience.
Host: On this week’s show, we’re going to chat with Hadeel about Her first day of university. Hadeel just completed her first year at AUS and has a recent perspective on the first year experience.
Host: Hadeel, it’s so great to have you here today.(quick response)
Hadeel: Hello Erica! Good day everyone listening! Hope you had a wonderful summer despite what’s been happening in the world. It’s great to be here, Thank you so much for inviting me to be a guest on FYE chats, I’m so excited to get started!
Host: To start, will you tell us a little bit about yourself? Maybe your major and why you chose AUS? Of course!
Hadeel: So, my name is Hadeel, I’m 19 years young! I stay at the AUS dormitories during the semesters and go home to Kuwait during longer weekends and semester breaks. I’m majoring in biology and I chose AUS because I had always seen myself studying abroad and not in my home country. And AUS, really, was my only choice to fulfilling that dream, because it’s the closest university to home.
Hadeel: And I had never been so lucky to have been accepted at AUS, it’s really grown on me. I love the AUS life.
Host: You were in the shoes of our listeners not too long ago. Can you remember how you felt the night before your first day?
Hadeel: I remember it like it was yesterday, I kid you not, I was so nervous and excited that I barely got any sleep that night, I managed to get some shut eye throughout the hours of the night but I just kept jolting awake because I was so nervous I might miss my classes. In the end I ended up waking up at 5 in the morning and couldn’t go back to sleep so I just made myself a nutritious breakfast of scrambled eggs, a tall glass of orange juice. I had some nuts as well. Then I just got dressed and headed to class at around 6:30. My classes started at 8!!
Hadeel: I remember a mix of a lot of feelings on my first day. A lot of it was because I didn’t know what to expect! Can you walk us through what your first week looked like? Absolutely, my first week was me rushing around campus. Trying to get to class an hour early, and if I was Fifty-five minutes early, I considered myself five minutes late! I had long hour breaks between my classes which was really a waste of time, I never got any studying done in those hours, I fixed that issue in my second semester, but then I really had to run across campus to make it to class on the dot.
Host: Wow! It sounds like there were a lot of things to do, even from that start. Did you get to interact with any professors? Were you given any assignments?
Hadeel: So, actually we didn’t have any assignments the first week of class, first days were just the professors telling us what to expect from the course and explaining the syllabi. But I did interact with my Academic Advisor a lot who was also my biology professor, I wanted to build a good relationship with her because Her and I will be seeing each other a lot throughout my four or five years at AUS. So, I 100% recommend our dear listeners to go and introduce themselves to their advisors and have a nice conversation, because your advisor is not your one-time-semester professor, they’re staying with you till you graduate, so definitely build up a respectful and good relationship with them. This, of course, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t build a good relationship with your one-time-semester professors, because they’re still your professors and you should be respectful of them, too. But even should you not like a certain professor, you won’t have to interact with them after you’re done with the course.
Host: This question may require some extra thought, but could be helpful for everyone to learn from. What do you wish you had done differently during your first week?
Hadeel: You know what, Erica? It doesn’t need a second thought because I think about it every single day!! I wish I had gotten an undergraduate manual from the office of registrar or even looked it up on the official AUS website, to really scout my options regarding registering for classes. Because I feel like I could have conducted a rather great and non-stressful graduation timeline. Oh, and another thing, In the previous question I did say that we didn’t have any assignments but I definitely wish I had started studying starting the first week, at least just reading or going through the material. I can see how that would’ve been very helpful for me rather than starting to study on the weekend before midterms week. I was a stressed out mess. I would be nice say that I managed, but I didn’t.
Host: To close, I’m going to ask a few questions that we love to know about all our guests.
Host: What is your favorite part of campus?
Hadeel: I love the whole of the AUS campus, and god knows how much we’ve all missed campus during these trying times, but I would probably say the library, or the dormitories.
Host: No matter how put together you may sound, we know that everyone has bad days. Do you have a most embarrassing moment in college or at AUS?
Hadeel: I actually do!! It was the second day of class, I had finished my 8 am class and I had a 3:00 Writing 101 class and I wanted to know where it was beforehand, so, I went to scout. After I had found it in the language building, I was just leaving, but I was looking at my phone, and I tripped on the steps on my way out and I tumbled over. Thank god no one really noticed. I wasn’t hurt, so no worries.
Host: Lastly, what is one piece of advice you’d like to share with our first-years listening? Hadeel: Don’t stress too much, make sure to balance studies and fun, Study regularly and not only when you have a test. Have a break day. Never focus on anything BUT the stairs, when you’re taking the stairs.
Host: It was such a treat to hear from Hadeel today. We’ll link the resources mentioned to our show notes. If you found this information helpful, we would love for you to hear your feedback! Thanks so much for listening to the show. See you next time, on FYE Chats.