The last issue of The Gazelle consisted of at least three articles on subjects ranging from adjusting to college, course enrollment tips to the changes during Marhaba. As a freshman, everybody keeps giving me tips with to-dos and not-to-dos in a vicarious effort, but where is my right of reply? What is the sugar-free reality behind the first week as a freshman at NYU Abu Dhabi? Here is a freshman’s perspective on her first week at NYUAD.

###Marhaba overview

After a very hectic Marhaba week in which we, the freshmen, hardly had a chance to catch our breath, we began heading off to classes. The transition from newbies to insiders happened pretty quickly and started off with the regular roster of NYUAD student complaints: boring classes, cut-to-the-chase teachers, add/drop mania and unwelcome changes to the meal swipe policy that limit our range of motion between counters.

The Marhaba experience was a combination of boring presentations, potentially interesting workshops and a hefty dose of fun. As much as I enjoyed checking it off our freshman to-do list, I think I came to acknowledge that it was an orientation week that let us see real college life, with homework and courses for which attendance counts for the final grade, with packed days that could sometimes exceed the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. norm and rare blank columns in the weekly schedule.

Alongside the factual information, we had a bunch of social activities meant to make us more familiar with each other, the UAE and the local and university culture: the Welcome Dinner at the Etihad Towers, the Variety Show hosted at the Marketplace, the Student Government Dance Party at the Park Hyatt Hotel, Ba’fa Ba’fa, the Heritage Village Tour and Hawl Al Emarat. One of the most exciting events by far was the conversation with Saud Alsanousi, author of The Bamboo Stalk — the book all of the freshmen were required to read over the summer and were enraptured by. We sat with starry eyes and wide-open ears plugged into the headphones that aired the translation from Arabic to English, listening to the interpretation of the open ending that put forward a taboo concept — incest.

###What’s your major?

The typical conversation struck up by freshmen standing around in the elevator, over lunch or at a social event begins with a bunch of questions that are standard at NYUAD: What’s your name, where are you from and what’s your major? As safe and normal it may seem, it gets tiring after a certain point in time, because there is absolutely no connection gained from saying the same things over and over again. Yet, this well-intentioned small talk coupled with the need to make a person feel comfortable can hide a feigned interest in how a peer’s courses are going, because it is a known fact that most of the verbal flow will go in one ear and out the other in the ensuing 30 seconds.

After two weeks as freshmen, we should know when the name-country-major database is prone to a short circuit; we have to introduce ourselves using more than just a course list and engage in discussions that shed the light on more meaningful things about our personality.

###First day of classes

Sunday caught us in the middle of an experience that seemed so far away and untouchable. I appreciated the initiative of our Resident Assistants to give out donuts on our first day of classes, as we definitely needed to sugarcoat the bitterness of the first day of classes. With zero days of college under my belt, it stands to reason that I was labeled as a baby-on-board specimen that needed to be guided through the maze of the Highline. For the first time in almost two weeks, I realized that I cropped up in the middle of NYU-where, hoping to settle into the challenges, to discover the magnificence of a city rife with vitality and to push through anything that might get in my way. For the first time, I had come to acknowledge that this a new life teeming with expectations and fears looming up on the horizon.

###Homesickness

Home is where your heart is, as the saying goes, but where is my heart aiming? Without thinking too much, I feel it vacillating between Abu Dhabi and Romania. When I first arrived on campus, I was deeply moved by the warm welcome message in the hall of my Residential College building. It was funny to notice how teachers recommend that I do my homework “in the silence of my own space”, also known as the tiny, cozy room I’ve taken ownership of. On the other hand, after being in Abu Dhabi for two weeks, the sight of a family picture or the lack of familiar landscapes can sometimes bring me to the point of tears. I assume this is a common feeling, even if you come from a two-hour ride away or from the furthest corner of the world. It is normal to be jolted by this turn of events in one’s life, because no matter how eye-opening and exciting my freshman experiences are in this new place we now call home, I still belong to a culture that I need to reconnect with every now and then. Until then, I breathe in the humid air on Saadiyat Island and I let the breeze guide me through my upcoming week as a freshman.