My Time at Vanderbilt ~ Jahnvi Doshi

I would be straight up lying if I said I wasn't intimidated at all when I first came to VSA. I had

Proctor group at the mall

butterflies in my stomach and I hoped that I would find good friends when I came in. When I met my roommate, she seemed to be such a nice person that my heart filled with warmth. I knew for a fact that I wouldn't be seeing any bullies or mean people. Then, I met the people in my proctor group. I felt slightly intimidated again. As we did ice breaker games, I felt better and the intimidation eased away.

Then, it was time to meet the people in my class. I knew that Edward and Jae-An were in my class and I forced myself to try not to talk to them, but to others I had never met before. Afterwards, I realized that I was pushing myself a bit too much. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone when it came to socializing, but I should do it step by step. I did just that, and things felt much better.

Now, this was the most freedom I had ever experienced: from doing laundry to choosing a healthy diet on my own. And yes, doing laundry on my own was a huge deal. All of my favorite clothes could have shrunk and been ruined for good, but I survived that test of life. I feel so accomplished. In all seriousness though, I feel as if I have grown a lot from being forced to do most things alone. It makes me feel much more responsible and confident. 

As I look back to the time I had in the past three weeks, what I mostly see is the fun times I had with my friends: laughing super loud until our stomachs hurt, going out to eat and doing small dares, dancing and singing together, and more. The people there were all very kind, passionate, and confident. They all had so much talent in them, yet were all so humble. It was such a great experience to meet such people. 

Now, it's time for me to be completely honest. Most of the people

At Mellow Mushrooms

there had one similar lifestyle, and it was a lifestyle that was not similar to me. It seemed a bit hard to relate to them, and I found it a bit hard to fit in. However, it only felt that way for the first few days. After that, I got used to it and I started having even more fun. In fact, I can say that the best part of the camp was how I didn't fit in at first. I know, that sounds really weird...but that's exactly what forced me to take a huge leap out of my comfort zone. And I'm glad I did, because now I feel as if I can fit in anywhere else too. And, would I ever want to go back there? Of course I would!!

Oh, here's a link to the VSA video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHv55S6xi4Y

Candid picture with Langston at Nashville Prosthetics

Photo idea to my friend who I met
on the bus while talking about pick-up lines