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Alspaugh residents getting ready to paint the Campus Drive bridge

I had no idea what residential life was going to be like when I was coming to Duke. The websites didn’t explain quite to my satisfaction. I had just come from six hard years of boarding school and needed a change. Was this experience going to be the same? Everything seemed similar; no parents near, living in a community with the same age group! Couldn’t life be more interesting?  My housing placement was all in the hands of the Sorting Hat, in the form of student housing… and in Alspaugh I was put.

At the bridge!

I expected confusion as an international student transitioning from high school to college with no idea of U.S. life. Orientation events were a formality and everything was to be learned through self-discovery. Everyone was in the same boat so there was no reason to panic. Now 3 months into my Duke life, I have gained another spirit, not the Duke Blue Devil spirit, but the dorm spirit, the Alspaugh spirit! This has been my close community. We do a lot of things as one, painting bridges, watching movies, playing football , soccer and volleyball, etc.

At first, I only knew my hall mates and the faces I remember from orientation week. Now through dorm activities, I have grown to love and be loved by the people I live with. Duke really feels like home.

If I have a problem, I can always go to the Residence Assistance for help. And, just two doors across me lives a professor, so cool! It is so casual to go and eat homemade brownies sitting on my professor’s couch in pajamas. I never imagined Duke would be as great as this!

A year ago I struggled to write why I was choosing Duke in my Why Duke essay. If I were to go back and apply, I would definitely include this.