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Now that I’m wrapping up my first semester at Duke, I made a decision. I decided that from now on, I will take full advantage of events available to Duke students.

Every few days, the freshmen body receives an email from administration detailing the upcoming events on campus. The list is so long that I either skim through it or dismiss it completely. For obvious reasons, I find out about big events through word of mouth: the basketball games (the first of which was last Friday against Belmont!) and yearly productions such as Awaaz (my favorite event so far at Duke!). But other events, I just stumble upon. Last weekend was a perfect example. I was on West Campus and there were flags and food stands set up all along the Plaza. To my good fortune, I had walked into the annual International House Food Fest. If you know me, you know I love my food. The Food Fest was a dream come true.

The smaller functions on campus are left unnoticed by the larger student body. The other day, my friend captured the nature of events at Duke perfectly. She said, “there are so many things going on at Duke, that they just blend together and seem insignificant.”

So I decided to change this for myself.  I was sitting on the C2 bus waiting to get to East Campus when I decided to pass the time looking through the long events at Duke list. There, at the very bottom, was a little note introducing the production of ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen. As an IB student, seeing a play from my IB years (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) got me so excited. Two other IB survivors – one from India and the other from Kuwait, a girl from America but born in Nepal, and myself (yup, we’re pretty international) immediately got tickets and spent two completely-worthwhile-hours in Duke’s Sheafer Theatre. I decided then and there that I couldn’t let the next three and a half years pass by without taking full advantage of all that Duke has to offer.

Other great events I’ve been to, I owe it to my Focus Program. Let me first tell you about Focus. As an incoming freshman, we were bombarded with emails, and letters outlining the endless possibilities at Duke. Amongst the letters in my acceptance package, I found a little card with the headline: The Focus Program: Apply Now!  I applied, got into the Ethics, Leadership, and Global Citizenship cluster and now owe my favorite professor and class to Focus. I could go on and on about Focus, but let me get back to my original point. Because of Focus, I’ve been to two private screenings of award wining documentaries with the directors present, one of whom I am still in contact with!

I guess what I’m trying to say to future Duke students is GET OUT AND ABOUT when you come to campus! Learn what’s going on and take full advantage of it. I want to look back at my Duke experience in ten years and know I had had the ultimate Duke experience.