September 4th, 2011. It is the date I came to the States, and it was my second time coming to U.S. after my first visit for Dawn’s Graduation (2008). When my parents asked me whether I would like them to come with me for a new student orientation and tour, I said, “No.” I still do not know from where in the universe that courage came out. I was fourteen, and I remember being escorted by a Delta flight attendant all the way from Seoul to Portland because I was not legally allowed to travel by myself. Once I got on the plane, I realized that I could not eat airplane food. I had to cover my face with my hands whenever flight attendants brought meals out (which devastated me; airplane food made me want to throw up.), and it was painful for a heavy eater like me not to have any food in stomach for over twenty four hours.

It was very early in the morning when I got to Portland, and I felt exhausted. Taking the dorms suburban, I arrived at the green area in front of the dorm and saw a giant welcome sign on the side. There were several people hanging out by the wooden table in front of the building, and as I got off the suburban, those people rushed toward me, carrying my baggage into my room. I felt very welcomed. Those “prefects” introduced themselves, asked me a lot of questions, shared meals, and played some games. In the afternoon, all the new students were given their computers, and I was coming out of the classroom with so much excitement and expectation. As I walked across the hallway, suddenly I felt the big windows in front of me swaying. I felt dizzy and fainted in the middle of the hallway, and I ended up waking up in the hospital with fluid jabs on my right arm.

Whenever I think of this horrible experience, I think of one person: Sophie. Sophie was a Prefect when I was a freshman, and she was the one who stayed with me at the hospital for about five hours, skipping the new student orientation she was supposed to be at. The fact that I was lying in the Emergency room scared me, and having Sophie aside allowed me to calm down and stop crying. She patiently waited and consistently told me that I would be all right, that I would not have any problems. I could not but appreciate so much (SO MUCH) for her presence with me, and at that moment I decided that I would want to be a person who could dedicate and help newer kids as Sophie did.

It is my second year serving as a Prefect in the dorm, and I cannot express how much rewarding and valuable it is for me. Making sure new students adjust and acclimate into a new environment, I take this job as an opportunity for me to help other people grow, but, most importantly, allow myself to grow.

Living with thirty other girls in the same dorm can get pretty stressful. Especially during the time when everyone has a lot of workloads and stress, heavy tensions prevail in the dorm, and people get extremely angry and sensitive to each other. It is my role to alleviate such tension and bring my fellows all together. Since I know prefects can leave such a huge impact on other dorm students’ lives, I seek to be a role model in this community and show that I have a respect for everyone. Sometimes my prefectees would break down and just show up on my door at two’ o clock in the morning, but I never push them aside. I ask them to sit and give every single sip of attention and energy I have. One of the most critical things I have gotten out of being a prefect is that I have acquired an ability to attentively listen to other people. It might sound weird, but sometimes just having someone listen to their (or me too) stories is enough. Knowing that someone will always be there to help gives people courage, and for me, building relationships with those people in the dorm has been so rewarding. There are so many students from diverse backgrounds–Africa, North and South America, Asia, and the Middle East, and talking with all these students about different cultures and habits of their home communities allows me to imagine a bigger world. As a dorm Prefect, I have matured to listen patiently, respect genuinely, and care deeply about others, and I have also been given the gift to explore a new world without physically getting somewhere.