02.23.10
Expectations Are Not Everything
When I first decided to join the AV’s in the senior year of college, I didn’t really take the time to think about my expectations for the following year. I knew a few things about volunteer work since I have done my fair share of it in the past but I really didn’t imagine what living in community would be like. Half of me, foolishly, anticipated that it would be just like living with friends in college and the other half of me knew that I couldn’t begin to fathom a guess.
In order to form a community I knew that it would take time for all of us to find a common ground and open up to share with each. Therefore, I anticipated that as a community there would be plenty of opportunities for us to bond. Six strangers in a completely new city and on the other side of the country meant that we relied on each other to figure it all out. I knew that it would take a while but collectively we would start to branch off and find our way around. The community life the six of us have forged has some similarities to what I anticipated but I think the differences are what has made this year special for me.
There have been many times this year when I said to myself, “Oh this is not really what I expected.” But I think the two prominent cases of this come from our houses dynamic. At first, I thought that most of my community would be just like me with similar ideals and values since we all felt a willingness to serve the under-privileged. I also thought that their personalities would be closely likened to my own- the latter assumption was based primarily on my previous experience with my friends having also been my roommates. Both of these expectations proved to be wrong but not in a bad way. Yes, it is true that our community was linked together based on our desire to volunteer a year but we all had our own reasons and our own past experiences that led us to San Diego. Thus far, it has been a gift to learn from the five others because I realized that we each bring an essential talent, quality, or element to the house. Luckily for me, I still have four more months to appreciate all the little nuances that have come to make this year special and I know that I have achieved immense personal growth from living in community and I have my roommates to thank for that!
Mike Shanahan
San Diego, CA
2009-2010