International Pre-Orientation
You probably won’t read this as the first page but for me this was my first experience at Whitworth and in Spokane in general. Whitworth is not a really international university by the amount of student or the importance the general staff gives to international community in general. Everybody is always nice and caring for you but nothing special. However, the international team, especially at the ISC (Intercultural Student Center) are the best.
First, there are really helpful to prepare the journey to Whitworth, they provide us with all the required VISA paper necessary way early in advance. Then the catch us all up at the airport at any time of day or night. I arrived one day before the program started so on the first day I had time to get used to the campus and also get all the sleep I was missing.
This year, the program had a new improvement, during the whole pre-orientation we didn’t move into our definitive dorm, instead we all move in Warren dorm. This was a really nice initiative, this allowed us not to be lost in an empty dorm, it also made the logistic of moving the group and meeting all together way easier.
Now, about the program in itself, the whole goal of it was to get us accustomed to an American college. Parallel to the international program, there’s another introduction program running late August, it’s called “Bucks Bridge”. This program is designed for all the minorities student or the first-generation students. The two programs are very similar the only difference is that for the international one we also have some tips and tricks to get used to the American culture.
The program was a little less than 3 days long in total, the basic goal was to make us get used to the campus life and also made us aware of everything that was there for us on campus. So, we had a visit from the student success center, the health center, the residence life one, the counseling one and career service. We also visited the library and the URec and had a general tour of the campus. All this was mixed with fun get-to-know each other activities. This program was mainly led by the CDA, Cultural Diversity Advocate of each dorm and other people involved in the international community at Whitworth (most of them, international students themselves).
The last day, we also spend the day at Silverwood Theme Park, it’s a really famous park in northern Idaho. I’m not personally a huge fan of amusement park but I still had a lot of fun that day, also just because it was a nice way to conclude those wonderful 3 days which seemed way longer than that.
I really think this whole program is a wonderful initiative, it’s super helpful for all the new international freshman coming for the US alone sometimes for the first time. Everything is free which is easy since you don’t have to bother thinking is it worth it and it’s organized by incredible people. I would recommend it to anyone.
Before my arrival at Whitworth, I was sorted in Ballard dormitory. This sorting process is based on a roommate-matching form we had to fill somewhere along April (I Think?). Then some incredible people try to match you with someone you would go along with in the best way and part of the criteria they use is the dorm you want to live in.
I don’t really remember which dorm I putted in my form but I’m just so grateful that I ended up living in Ballard because I really believe this improved my exchange experience a lot and this allowed me to meet some awesome people and be part of this incredible BMac community.
BMac is just the name of the community/family formed by people living in Ballard dorm and Mc Millan dorm. Those two dorms are the 2 historical one, so there’re located next to each other but kind of far from most of the other dorm. They both look like haunted house (there’re just not modern). There’s a strong bond between the two dorms because both are not mixed-gender since mixed-thing wasn’t popular when they were build. So, Ballard is an only female dorm and Mac is only boys.
This non-mixed concept looks a bit strange when you hear about it but its’ completely okay and not a problem at all in real life. Mostly because all the activities we do are made as BMac and not as 2 separate dorms. All the other dorms are anyway organized by floors and each floor is either female or male so that girls and boys never share the same bathroom. The only difference with BMac is that in order to see boys, instead of just going down the stairs you actually need to go outside and cross the pathway, but that’s it.
Ballard is also a really small dorm compared to other ones at Whitworth, there is only 60 or 70 Ballard-ladies every year. Mac is a bit less than the double but still BMac together is kind of small at Whitworth. This is also a reason why we create so many bonds within us. It is always easier to bond in a small group where you kind of know the names of everyone than when you’re lost in the middle of a crowd of other lost people. I guess in bug dorms you mostly bond with a small group of friends but in BMac, you can talk and be friends with everyone since we don’t split that much in even smaller groups.
Here’s a first overview of Ballard now you can keep on reading about my dorm, first here, where I tell you about the history of Ballard (and Whitworth in general). Then, here you can discover what we did at traditiation. Last, here are some of the big traditional BMac events that I took part in…