I had my real time chat with Professor Nichols right after class on Thursday, July 29th, at her office in Willard. Although I was slightly nervous in the beginning because I wasn’t sure what to bring up, she was very easy to talk to and we discussed a wide variety of topics like the difficulties and positive aspects of transitioning from high school to college, living in state college compared to northern VA where I grew up, and even major/graduation/career plans. We even talked about how I went from calling my mom at least once everyday when I first got here to 3-4 times a week now.

We proceeded to talk about my current living conditions after she asked me about my roommate, which led to our discussion of my fall/spring semester residential hall, North Halls. She cleared up my anxieties of living in a suite with three other people and having to share a single bathroom; she mentioned helpful tips like establishing rules on the first day and making sure you don’t take forever to shower. This led to our conversation to transition to becoming a resident assistant (RA). Professor Nichols shared her experiences as an RA back when she was in college and said it was one of the best decisions she has ever made. She looked up the benefits of being an RA at PSU which included having free housing, third level meal plan, and $500 per semester, with the requirements only being 12 completed credits and a 2.5 GPA – something we both learned for the first time. I never really thought about becoming an RA previously but I became very interested after our conversation, and I am highly considering it for next summer or even sophomore year so I can stay for free on campus. Plus, Professor Nichols mentioned her memorable experiences of living in downtown state college in the middle of 5 frat houses, which only made me want to keep living on campus for a bit longer.

I’m really glad I had the opportunity to have a long chat with Professor Nichols and I plan on updating her if I do eventually apply to become an RA. I hope to use opportunities like these to get to know future professors too because the chat was very insightful and it was nice hearing her talk about Professor Nichols’ experiences and stories, along with sharing mine to her. It made me realize how it is important to utilize office hours, not just for questions about assignments, but to also make a connection with professors so you can learn about them and they can learn more about you. After all, a large aspect of your classes at college is your professor.