Intro and Thesis Paragraph

Anxiety, enthusiasm, and awe surrounded me my first day at UCF. All I could do was walk around with a big smile on my face trying to absorb every detail and fleck of craziness that engulfed campus. The day was extremely hot with the sun beating on my shoulders and a soft breeze gliding through my hair. Walking through the Student Union was the most hectic aspect of the afternoon. I had seldom been surrounded by so many people in my life. My ears tingled with the buzz of meaningless chatter, music, and club leaders shouting the main ideas of their select group and shoving flyers in my hands. Yelling the benefits of marijuana and crusading to try to make pot legal made me laugh out loud-- not because I was completely against the cause, but instead because where I'm from no one would dare fight for an ideal so radical. Most people sauntering through the area expressed no interest in the objective, others nodded their heads in agreement, and more conservative students shook their heads in disagreement to the outlandish statements.

I never felt like I belonged in my hometown of Jackson, Missouri, a small town near the boot-heel along the murky, brown Mississippi River. Jackson is a guarded, simple town with certain, basic expectations. The entire town gathers and squeezes into the high shcool football stadium ever Friday night home game and before school started the inhabitants would participate in a small carnival-like celebration called Home-comers; if one didnt attend either event, it was severely looked down upon. Jackson is also around 95% republican and if one happened to be part of the 5% that signed onto the ballot as a democrat would never admit it--proclaiming such information as having favor with a democratic candidate is grounds for flogging and a public stoning. Nothing radical ever occurs in Jackson. The high school graduating class of 2008 decided to camp out on the football field as a sort of prank and the school had the police arrive and escort everyone away. The hamlet in general is simple and possesses certain expectations.

Arriving onto campus shook my entire world and dropped it upside down--I love it. I relish the freedom of ideas and being able to participate in crazy activities like Tent City. I can actively voice my opinion on an issue instead of burying it inside of me like a treasure chest. Small towns with a strong community of white Christians are primarily conservative and strangle any liberal opinions someone else might possess. Only when one escapes from the restrictive atmosphere do new ideas and concepts become experienced due to different ethnicities and religions. Now, strict older generations are fading and free-thinking youths are overshadowing traditional ideals.