To people who don't look below the surface or attempt to think about it, Once is a nice movie about two people who fall in love with each other and their music, but because of the directions that their lives are headed, they cannot be together. This movie does many things to express that these people do not lead exclusively wonderful lives. One of the last shots in the movie shows "Girl" looking out the window as this adventure comes to a close, and the camera zooms out to show the windows in the rest of the building. To some people it would just seem like the natural thing to do, but in reality the director was showing the story behind this window was extrodinary, but there is a story just as extrodinary and awe inspiring happening behind every window in the building. This movie simply focused on one story, but everybody has one. This is also why the two lead characters didn't have names; the goal was to show that they were just ordinary people.
One of my biggest fears in going to college is that people won't be looking for each person's extrodinary, but instead just looking at the mass of people as a whole. I'm terrified of going to a school where my professors won't know my name, where I'm just another one of their 300 students in the lecture hall. Sure I have a story, but what do they care to hear it? Well this week I went on a college visit that proved some, if not most, colleges want to find everyone's Once worthy story. Well I was at Illinois Wesleyan this Wednesday I had a pretty busy schedual. I had to come in and interview with the head of the theatre deparment, go on a tour, have lunch with the theatre students, attend two classes, and meet with my admissions counselor. By the end of the day I was beat, even though it all went great. My first interview didn't take very long, so Professor Quinn, who I was interviewing with, invited my to go get a cup of coffee across campus with him. He asked me questions that were less formal, more to get to know me as a person. All the people I got to know there were incredibly nice, even if they did ask me if I had questions way too many times. When I met with my admissions counselor, Bob Geraty, he already knew many things from my application. We started talking school, and he immediately brought up that I was involved in a ton of different activities.
The big moment that made me realize that colleges really do want to get to know you was on Friday. I got home from school and there was a letter waiting for me. Bob Geraty had written me a letter saying that it had been nice getting to know me and that I should not hestitate to contact him with any questions I may have. He also said that he hoped I enjoyed visiting the theatre department and (the big shocker) that he hopes I have a lot of fun with V-show and writing for Comedy Troupe. I was shocked he remembered, we'd talked about variety show for a little while, but I didn't think he'd remember anything so specific considering I told him about many shows I've been involved with. I mentioned that we were right in the middle of comedy troupe rehearsals, and he really did remember.
All of the people I met at Illinois Wesleyan, especially Bob Geraty and Tom Quinn, made me feel as though they really were searching for my Once. I realized most people and teachers you meet will try to find your special story because, as we learned in humanities, we all have one.
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