There is no person happier than a college tour guide. Never in my life have I seen anyone else smile for 90 minutes straight like this blond khaki-wearing weirdo. Don't get me wrong, she seems nice enough but wow, is she intence.
"Hello everyone! My name is Liz Goolie! Haha, yes it is short for Elizabeth! Thank you for asking, I was actually named after my grandma who died in the holocaust because she was Jewish..." Yeah, the crowd was as you suspect: silent and shocked. For one thing, no one asked her what her name was short for, and for another thing, she smiled through the entire story. South Dakota people are weird, of course they are it's the midwest, no offense to midwestern because I am one and I am weird, but I didn't think some PNW people would be that strange.
Despite the fact that Liz was drawing on about her major and the history of the University, and constantly saying that she is a fantastic RA, I managed to get a pretty good tour in. Hey, I said that tour guides were sometimes weird, not that they weren't efficient. This particular tour was for out of staters, meaning that basically everyone in my group was from the middle of nowhere and they found themselves in Washington, looking for a fresh start, or at least that's what they all said during the big group circle up to discuss our pronouns, where we came from, what we preferred to be called, and as Liz so lovingly put it, "you people have no one! Most of you don't have any families! But thankfully this group, and myself, will be your new family here at Edmonds!" Liz even started crying during the speech, which I actually found nice because then I was able to connect with her, but it should be noted that she was also smiling while she was crying. Here I am, 18, all alone in a state I'd never actually been to before, with not even a single friend. Liz was probably me her freshman year.
"Alright recruits!" Liz announced, standing to continue the tour, or end it, not sure which one because she is smiling 100% of the time, "some of you are in the same dorm halls so when I call your name, you guys can all go and find your dorm rooms! Some of you will room together, some of you will be with some of the other students but either way: Yay dorms!" The rest of the group, and I, began to get excited, finally, freedom and a chance to lay down after traveling and walking all morning.
"Okay! In Kroger Hall: Joyce McKnight, Jordan May, Layla Brown, and Courtney Crem." Liz said, the girls departed and went with their RA to the dorm. Next Liz called the boy dorm, and then next girl dorm, all the way until she got to Morehead Hall, "Megan Les, Stephanie Martinez, Florence Crown, Gwen Maka..." that was all I needed to hear to rush to my RA, the lady smiling with the Morehead logo. The rest of the girls were meeting me there as we made our way to the hall. One girl, Florence, asked around for her roommate the entire way there.
"Hi! My name is Florence, Florence Crown, what's your name?" She said incredibly politely. Are you in dorm 2C?" Although she was nice, her high energy scared the shit out of me.
"Hi...I'm Gwen Maka. And Uhm...yes...I am in dorm 2C." I said a little nervous to have this high-energy blond girl right in my face. But she was very nice, she would probably be in a sorority by the time Christmas break came.
"Amazing! I'm from Florida! Where are you from?" she said, wide-eyed and excited.
"South Dakota, what brings a Florida girl to the rainiest state in the US?" I asked her, genuinely curious because, although I've never been to Florida, it's kind of known for its beaches and Spring Breaks.
"My parents said I needed to spend more time with my grandmother," she rolled her eyes, "so they told me to come here so I could go to school and be close to her." Understandable, my grandmother was back in South Dakota and even she needed some help but at least she had the reservation, I can't imagine her being alone at all. "What about you Miss Gwen, where's your last name from anyway?" she asked, slightly judgmental.
"Uhm, I came to Washington because of the coffee," this earned a laugh from the other girls walking with us, "and my last name is Native," I explained to her.
"Wow," She said with large blue eyes, "you'll have to tell me about that sometime, roomie." She winked and smiled. At least she was nice, even though was a walking ADHD ad. At the end of the walk that seemed like an eternity, we arrived at our hall, all of us girls parted ways to our cars, or whatever we were using to transport our dorm shit, and grabbed all of our carefully collected items. "I'll see you in our room, roomie!" Florence screamed in sound-only dogs could hear.
My car sat in a parking space right in front of the hall's entrance. It was shiny and looked new but the old Subaru Forester had more miles than the circumference of the Earth, but she was mine. I suddenly remembered what my mom said before I left, "text me whenever you feel like it! I'll be waiting to hear your words!" As I got into my car I decided I wanted a break from all the new people, and text my mom.
"Hey Mom, it's Gwen. But of course, you know that. I got to Washington yesterday and finished my drive to Edmonds a couple of hours ago. I stayed in the creepiest hotel last night, but as much as I felt uncomfortable and alone, the beds were amazing. I just imagined you saying how comfortable the pillows were because wow, they were amazing. They were like those ones we got when we were in Colorado and decided to go to Costco, remember? I met my roommate. Her name is Florence. She's kind of a nutjob and a little intense but you would love her energy. I think I could be friends with her but I just don't feel like talking at the moment. I miss you! Come visit me, I would love to see a familiar face in the sea of brand new ones. Maybe you were right, maybe going to Washington so soon was a mistake. But the view I'm looking at right now is incredible. It's just a ton of seas and I can hear waves crashing on a beach somewhere, I'll have to go find it. It's not even rainy yet because it's September, so you were wrong about the rain 365 days a year lol. Hope you're doing good. Don't worry about me, I'll try to make new friends tomorrow.
Love,
Gwen."
Satisfied with my text and having had a few good deep breathes, I decided it was time to move into college. I threw my phone in the passenger seat and began my adventure up and down the stairs a million times.
YOU ARE READING
Love, Gwen
Romansa18-year-old, Gwen Maka has made a big change in her life. Not only did she decide to leave behind her entire family and friends in South Dakota, she decided to move to the one place her family never wanted to go: Washington State. Gwen's mother alwa...
