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Tuesdav, August 25, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
R E F D O M S
Steve Jacobson, Morton Grove, III., freshman, picks up his fee card while going through enrollment.
Fred Sadowski/KANSAN
Imgard Arink, Maarheeze, Netherlands, freshman, sits through her first 7:30 a.m. section of English 101.
Lisa Jones/KANSAN
Netherlai
Bv NOEL GERDES
Staff writer
Irmgard Arink is surprised that she hasn't felt homesick since she took a taxi into Lawrence two weeks ago.
After all, Arink, a Maarheerzee Netherlands, freshman, is seven time zones away from her family on a university campus four times the population of her hometown.
'But why should I go back there when 'I'm having so much fun here!
Arink, 18, came to the University of Kansas to study business, experience U.S. culture and meet U.S. citizens. She has plunged into KU activities with the enthusiasm and sense of novelty known only to freshmen.
"You have to put in an awful lot of energy to meet people." Arink said.
energy to meet people". Armk said.
She has tried to attend as many
classes as possible, she said, including Traditions
Night, Meet a Professor Night and a
McCollim Hall version of "The Dating
Game."
"I think I know everything a new student should know by now," she said.
If Arink seems more adjusted to
Apartment life brings challenges
By MICHAEL HORAK
Staff writer
The first lesson Julie Mathias learned at the University of Kansas was: Never question your mother when she tells you to buy a carrot peeler — even if you hate carrots.
"I was making a tuna casserole last night and guess what the recipe needed?" said Mathias. Overland was shaken, but he didn't know what I didn't have. A carrot peeler."
Mathias laughed and shook her head. "That's been pretty typical of my first week here," she said.
Like most freshmen, Mathias has spent the last week getting her first taste of college life.
Her experiences during her week at KU differed somewhat from many of her peers because she is living in a studio apartment off campus instead of a residence or scholarship hall on campus.
Not having the guidance generally given to students in on-campus housing has meant that Mathias has been solely responsible for learning how
the campus functions.
"When I came on campus to pay fees, I refused to carry a map because I didn't want to look like a freshman," she said. "I just followed the crowd, hoping that they would guide me in the right direction. I was scared to death I was going to do something wrong."
With no one to guide her though fee payment, the fear of doing something wrong got the best of her, and she spent 30 minutes sitting in the back of Hoch Auditorium reading about fee payment procedures in the timetable.
"I walked toward the Union and thought, 'This is a breeze.' Once I got inside and saw the lines, I said to myself, "Oh my God, these are the lines everyone talks about," she said.
Often, Mathias would wait in a line to pay fees, get to the front and notice the word "optional" was printed on a poster tacked to the table, she said.
The lines in the roomball that formed behind acronyms like "GSL"
confused her the most.
"I'd realize they (other students) didn't have the same things out that I did and knew I was in the wrong place." she said.
Three hours after she began the fee payment process, Mathias was ready to buv her textbooks.
Standing on the first floor of the Kansas Union, she began asking students where the bookstore was.
"I walked by the bookstore twice and couldn't see any books," she said. "I didn't know where to go until I saw a friend near the bowling alley who explained to me that you need to downstairs inside the bookstore to get to the books."
Matias didn't decide to attend KU until early in the summer. By then, all residence hall rooms were filled and she had to find an apartment.
Her search led her to Tanglewood Apartments. 951 Arkansas St.
Living in an apartment poses many challenges that on-campus freshmen
"It gets lonely at night. . Sometimes I get home at night and wonder if there are other people out there," she said.
At first, sleeping alone in an apartment scared her. During her first night at Tanglewood, a poster fell off the wall and onto her bed, nearly scarring her to death, she said.
"I didn't get to sleep until 4 that morning," she said.
But she has become increasingly comfortable living alone. Her initial homesickness already is going away, she said, and cooking and shopping have not been difficult because she worked in a grocery store during high school.
Three bachelors who live near Mathias have discovered that she is a good cook and have been inviting her over to cook for them, she said.
"I've done a lot of trying to get settled this first week," she said.
"I'm finally getting the time to sit down and see what clubs and organizations I can get involved in."
"I think I'm going to like KU."
Julie Mathias, Overland Park freshn
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