Blog Post #3

University – what a trip it’s been. It’s only my first year and I already feel so defeated at times. I’m the type of person that’s always comparing themselves to others and in doing so, I’ve noticed that my transition to university hasn’t been the smoothest.

Moving from a big city to a small town has definitely been an adjustment. Move-in day was my first time in Kingston, and I was not prepared for the culture shock. Having come from just outside Toronto, a bustling city booming with diversity, to Kingston was a difference I was not prepared for. For some reason, I had it in my head that since this was a university town, diversity wasn’t going to be an issue - boy was I wrong.

In my first-year class, there are only 2 black people, including myself. This became a rather interesting factor in making new friendships. In the beginning, everyone was tiptoeing around me because of the fact I was different. I had people asking me out of hand questions, people saying that they had a black friend many moons ago, and don’t even get me STARTED on the hair touching. To make matters worse, everyone made me feel like an outsider; they would talk to me for two seconds and then immediately be done with me because I couldn’t relate to any of their experiences. By the end of orientation week, I was friendless.

It wasn’t until after orientation that I made a friend that stuck and once I made one, more just came flooding in. At first, I was on edge because I was in a new place with no familiar faces. But over time, I began to adjust, and I started meeting interesting people who made the transition worthwhile. I started this school year plotting my transfer to a new university and now I actually enjoy it here. Someone once said, “a place is only as good as the people you know in it. It's the people that make the place,” and I can say that was undoubtedly the case for my experience at Queens. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this experience is that you will find your people, just give it some time and enjoy the ride. Cha Gheill!