My first week at Northern ended with me crying in my backyard because I was so nervous about being around people all the time. I used to go to a small underfunded high school with a graduating class of about 12 people, so I felt like I missed out on learning how to talk to people my age. Going from that to hallways packed with students, all of whom seemed to know so much more about what they wanted to do with their life, freaked me out.
These nerves chased me through my entire career at NMU. For the longest time, I did not have the confidence to actually work in my field. The first time I showed up to a North Wind meeting and I looked at all the people talking confidently about their articles, I felt like I was so far behind. It wasn’t until the Editor in Chief at the time set me up with a satire article that I began to feel comfortable. Seeing that they also introduced me to my now-girlfriend, I feel like I owe them a huge thanks.
Looking at my college career, my time at the North Wind has been relatively short. I worked at the Jamrich Starbucks for my first three years, then quit for a job as a production assistant, and got this job to work on during the rest of my free time. In all, I was only an employee of the North Wind for a year and a half.
But I enjoyed it a lot. Even on weeks where I scrambled to get my articles in, or the times interviewing people who quite vocally did not want to speak to me, I enjoyed the heck out of this job. The North Wind encapsulated a lot of my favorite parts of college, and led to memories I will never forget.
It’s funny how you remember the little things before you graduate. I’ll never forget when I was a dual enrolled high schooler and my English teacher lent me her paperback copy of Fight Club. I’ll never forget one Friday working at Starbucks where I juggled putting away the order, working the floor, and calming down stressed out coworkers, or how I sat outside Fieras afterwards laughing at how crazy the whole morning was. I still remember all the times I stumbled over myself in conversation, the nights spent headbanging to Shipwreck Kelly (rest in peace) at The Crib, the times spent with friends playing Mario Kart into the wee hours of the night, and the times I managed to stop and realize how happy I was.
I enjoyed college. It went by way faster than I thought it would, and that’s how I know I had a good time. When I look back at my first few years at Northern, it’s so easy to see how I’ve changed in some ways, and stayed exactly the same in others. I used to get so scared in some social situations, so quiet, and I even used to be a little mean.
I’m still a pretty awkward person. My sense of humor is often nothing more than a nervous tick to get me through conversations, and if you look through my time at the North Wind you’ll see way too many missed deadlines. But the thing is, looking at all the bumps and bruises I got along the way, I wouldn’t change a single thing.
