First Week at Andover

Wow, what a week it’s been at boarding school.  I moved into my dorm on Tuesday morning, had two days of orientation, and had 2 days of classes (I have a single in case anyone’s wondering). I met with my dorm three times and had two cluster gatherings [dorms makeup clusters and there are 5 clusters on campus].  

I’m amazed.  That’s all I can say.  In classes, I’m finding how I’m one of the few people from Massachusetts.  The people I’ve met have come from all over the world, though popular places are New Jersey, Texas, other countries, and California.  It is quite amazing.  Kids from all over the country and world coming onto one campus to grow together.  I’ve frequently had to ask people to repeat where they’ve come from because they’re from a town in another state. And it’s not just the people that amaze me.  It’s the support I’m receiving that also amazes me.  I have two extremely kind, relaxed, great advice giving prefects in my dorm and I have a senior who is my Blue Key and helped me through orientation. The peer support here at Andover is quite a beautiful web. It amazes me.  

I feel liberty.  What it means to feel free is outright defined here at Andover.  You set your own schedule, you make your own priorities, you determine when you’ll exercise, wake up, return to your dorm and study. You even determine how you want to organize your binders for every class.  Everything is on yourself. This allows for leeway but simultaneously adds pressure and responsibilities to each individual students.  For example, I usually head back to my dorm after lunch to unload my backpack of binders from classes I’ve already taken during the day or I wake up in the morning and go practice piano at the music hall.

It’s b i g.  There are almost three times as many kids at Andover per grade than in eighth grade at BB&N. It’s quite a shift.  I’m finding it harder to get to know everyone.  I’m fearing that there will always be people whom I don’t know but I’m striving to get to know everyone eventually.  

I’m learning a new academic culture.  I’m sensing something.  I’m not sure whether my notion is correct or whether it’s because the academics haven’t come into full swing yet.  I’ll share what I’m sensing: here at Andover, academics is important and empathically emphasized everyday, but it’s not even close to everything.  There are clubs, sports, meetings, social events, dance clubs to join, free time to walk downtown, concerts and shows to watch, time sitting on the great lawn etc.  Academics is not everything here.  It is important, but focusing solely on academics will not help me make the most of my time here.  

It’s just a snapshot. Hopefully, another week I’ll be able to dive more deeply into my emotions about Andover, but for now, I’ll leave you with this general overview.