For freshman Anita Orahood, coming to NIU was just like she expected. Almost.

She didn’t expect to see the couple in the bathroom of her all-female residence floor, but aside from that, she likes NIU.

Yesterday, Orahood toured the campus with her younger sister to find her classes. Leaving her family in Downers Grove is hard, but she’s ready for college.

“It’s overwhelming to come from either the home environment or a community college to a school of 26,000 people,” said Jennifer Herrick, a second-year resident assistant.

Students living in special option residence hall floors—like wellness, foreign language or political science—often have an easier transition because they all have something in common, said Douglas Hall Director Linda Koschoreck.

A new option floor this year is the transfer floors in Douglas and Stevenson South. Dawn McCusker, the Douglas transfer RA who transferred herself from Palatine’s Harper College last year, said coming to NIU was a scary experience.

Not knowing about identification cards and residence hall policies was difficult, she said. “Little things like that make a difference.”

So far, McCusker said the transfer floors have formed a tight community whose main concern is academics.

Koschoreck, who is involved with RA training, said the RAs learned ways to develop “communities” among the residents on their floors.

Sometimes leaving those at home—family, friends, boyfriends and girlfriends—can be so painful, students make trips home every weekend.

“I think it’s important to find a nice balance,” Koschoreck said. “With a sense of community (on a floor), at least they’ll feel comfortable staying here over the weekend.

The communities “have a lot to do with ethical standards,” she said. By fostering discussion and a sense of responsibility, residents should feel more at home.

As also are trained in student development theory to help residents deal with their emotions and new-found independence, she said.

A simple suggestion to meeting others is to “leave your door open” so other residents will feel welcome to stop in and say “hello,” Koschoreck said.

“People think they’re the only person sitting alone in their room,” she said.

Another new experience is living with a stranger—a roommate. “It’s okay to disagree with people and it doesn’t mean they hate you,” Koschoreck said.

Many times, feuding residents will try to drag their RA into the mess before trying to work things out by themselves, she said. Koschoreck cautioned matters should be first approached by the roommates themselves.