senior thesis
It Will Always Be There
First Memories
Invariably, answers to the question “what is your first memory of arriving at USC?” included mention of the first RHPers interviewees had encountered. It is unlikely that the first random people they met would become their closest friends, so non-RHPers must have been omitted from their answers. Perhaps respondents omitted the non-RHPers they met because they knew the purposes for the interview. However, it is more likely that they remembered only the people with whom they would later associate: memories are colored by later experiences. In this way, the several “first” questions I asked told as much about the early experiences of RHPers as it did about the later experiences through which those memories were filtered.
Stories of the first memories were varied -- but all expressed a sense of chaos. One RHPer had a hectic journey that resulted from the American Airlines strike, then getting lost “clear out to Glendale,” and arriving very late on move-in day. Another person left San Diego at four in the morning (he couldn’t sleep), only to confront unexpected crowds on campus. Another had an exhausting train trip and faced confusion with the shuttles from Union Station. One person’s first sight of her roommate (in curlers) was “a little scary,” and she did not see her for the first several days because of band. Someone else had a fight with his parents. Another described move-in day as “absolute chaos in the dorms.” Everyone was nervous and confused.
To alleviate the sense of being out of control, RHPers unconsciously reached out to the only people they knew -- other RHPers. For the first few days, it was not unusual to be called by an e-mail address while people put faces to the screen names with which they had become familiar. While most people abandoned using screen names within the first week, some of them stuck, becoming the primary form of address for their owners.
Move-in day was on a Saturday; classes began the following Tuesday. This did not seem to be much time to make new friends. Several RHPers were shy or had difficulty meeting new people. RHP made things easier, providing “an automatic set of friends.” Even the most outgoing RHPer ended a round of door-knocking and introductions on the second night by joining a gathering in someone’s room to play Spoons (a silly card game). The newly emerging group mentality seemed almost inevitable. Besides the e-mails, everyone already had something in common. According to one person, there is “nothing like the shared experience of not having had a senior year.” Another “thought that walking through campus people knew that [he] was younger, people knew that I was strange.” In contrast to the shared feeling of being an outsider was the shared hope for becoming an insider. These two factors were probably the most important in manifesting a social group.
Another factor was the weather. The first week was unbearably hot. Daytime temperatures reached at least 100° and stayed in the 80s at night. One person said, “all you could think about was, ‘damn, this is so uncomfortable. It’s so hot! And sweaty!’ People had to take cold showers three times a day, just to stay normal!” Since the dorms were not air conditioned, many of the quirky RHPers slept in the “AC” lounges to keep cool. These nights had the atmosphere of slumber parties with people talking well into the early hours. With the weather as a common topic of impassioned conversation, it was easy to begin conversations which led to group bonding. Overall, there was a fun, “summer-camp” atmosphere which persisted throughout the semester.