Freshman Footsteps | Awaiting a Texas homecoming

College freshman Jordan English has begun to realize that she is not in Texas anymore.

Gone are the mild winter climate and the raging enthusiasm for high-school football.

Fortunately, she has found a few fellow Texans who share her homesickness.

“There’s a boy I keep running into on weekends who’s from Texas,” English said. “And we’re like: ‘Oh my God, don’t you miss the weather? Are you gonna watch the college football game?’ It makes me miss home.”

English, a Texas A&M; fan, went home for Thanksgiving and was “ecstatic,” she said.

She added that not only is the weather there in the 70s, but she got to spend time with her boyfriend, whom she “could not wait” to see.

Back at Penn, the cold Pennsylvanian weather has also brought her an unfortunate new experience unique to Northerners: She fell when she went ice skating with two friends from her hall two weeks ago.

“I busted my chin open and had a huge laceration,” English said of the incident.

She visited the emergency room, for the first time since she was nine months old, and had to get eight stitches.

But an ice skating accident hasn’t stopped English from enjoying her time at Penn.

She is active in the blood drives on campus, where she has both donated blood and volunteered time.

“Since I’ve done it so many times, I’m like, ‘I can answer this question, I can answer that question,’” she said, referring to the survey each donor must answer before giving blood.

English has made friends in her Biology lab and Math 104 class, even though she “had to be away from them” when she had the swine flu earlier in the semester, she said.

When she was healthy, English became particularly close with a girl from Jackson, N.J. in her Math course. She hopes to live with her in the high rises next year.

And she is also enjoying being a celebrity on campus. Since she has been featured in The Daily Pennsylvanian, “people will be like, ‘Oh my God, I totally saw you [in the DP],’ or ‘how do I know that about you?”’

She added that people passing by her Hill College House dorm room often read the name on her door and come back and say, “Are you Jordan?”

English is taking the attention in stride. “It’s so neat, and it’s always a good ice breaker,” she said.

Having already completed her spring schedule, English seems to have it all in check: social life, academics and extracurriculars.

For now, her most challenging tasks at hand are completing her Math and Biology finals and getting into the classes she wants.

On Sunday, she said she was “literally stalking Penn InTouch right at midnight” so she could try to get into her first choices.

And beyond finals, English looks forward to going home.

“I really just can’t wait until the 22nd has come and gone,” she said. “I can be home and not have all these things looming in the back of my head.”

Plus, the recent break made her even more ready to head down south.

“Being home over Thanksgiving was a huge tease,” she said. “So I can’t wait to stay longer and spend more time with my family and boyfriend and see more of my friends from back home.”

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