Wherever you go, be the best you!
Be involved as early as you can!
Hello, everyone! Welcome to my blog again. Today I am going to share my experiences about college life at UAlbany. If you are an incoming new student, you can learn how to get involved on campus. If you are not, you can also get some ideas about how to make more friends in a new environment.
University at Albany is a place that never lets you feel dull！ There are more than 200 student organizations on campus covering various kinds of academics, hobbies, and cultures. You can find whichever interests you most on the MyInvolvement website and apply to join it! If you do not find any organization fits your interests, you can start a new one. If you do not have enough time to be a member of any organization, you can always look for the recent events through MyInvolvement, the University Events Calendar, or the posters around campus. There is always something going on campus. I think that it is helpful to be engaged on campus as early as you can. Make best chance of every opportunity.
For me, since I am majoring in accounting, I joined an accounting organization, Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) at UAlbany. All in all, joining in BAP is the best decision I made at UAlbany. I will never forget this valuable experience. Though, I must admit that there is a lot of extra work during the whole candidacy process. You probably would have to sacrifice your free time in order to focus on school, work, and the candidacy process. I cannot imagine how less interesting the life here would be if I did not join BAP and meet a group of friends. My favorite part of BAP was people in our candidate class. When I first came to Albany, I knew nobody here. No family, no friends. I had classmates, but we just had class together and everyone left after class. Then, I met our candidate classmates. They are the first friends I made at UAlbany; they are also my best friends. They helped me to collect bottles (required as an assignment of every week); they accompanied me on shopping trips. They explained many things to me and answered my stupid questions every day. They would call me when I could not find the my way. We laughed together (no crying yet). We studied in the library together. We hung out together. We learned interview skills together. We did community service together. We grew up together. Besides the classmates, our E-Board were also very responsible and friendly. They interviewed us and gave us feedback for future improvement. Our PCs (Prospect Coordinator) were considerate to us. They sacrificed one afternoon every week to try to help us grow up and prepare for the real working world. People are so nice here. I did not see why I should be not kind to others – to pass on the kindness. I really love them! I not only made a group of friends but also learned the meaning of always helping others. At the time, I could not imagine the day I would leave UAlbany. I knew that I would probably cry to death in my heart while seeing this lovely city disappearing outside the windows of my flight. I did. I cried.
As I have mentioned before, people are more generous than you think! You just need to get out of your comfort zone, talk to people and get involved in groups. I am sure you can make new friends and find a sense of belonging at UAlbany. I believe that the same will be true for you if you plan to study abroad.
Okay, that is what I wanted to share with you about my campus life in Albany. Feel free to leave your comments below! See you next time!
Please Note: The views of our student bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the UAlbany Academic Support Center or the Center for International Education and Global Strategy. These are their stories – their voices.
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UAlbany Education Abroad
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MyInvolvement (List of Student Organizations)
About the Author:
UAlbany Project MyStory 
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