Honestly, I hate clubs. The fairs are annoying and, to me, partially overly-intrusive. Plus, I went to a high school where being in a club meant getting home after dark, so they were out of my radar. I finally decided to join a club, not to just go to school, work, and leave; and to make new friends as well. I went to the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship meeting on Thursday, mainly because it was something I knew about, being raised in the church. However, I was still nervous as all hell. Not knowing anybody else plus being in the unfamiliar situation of a Christian club translated to me being frankly terrified at the idea of “worlds colliding”.

When I first got there, I thought I was late because there was a lot of people there, in my opinion.  I saw a girl I knew from my high school, and I felt relieved more than anything. At least I knew somebody was there. Initially, you see people talking to each other and they seem to have established groups and it becomes increasingly harder to interject yourself. Therefore, I was very “defensive”, you know? Sit on the side, take stock of the room, don’t speak until spoken to, etc. However, I was surprised after a while of the laid-back atmosphere that was present. I was able to make friends and talk to people who had the same beliefs as I did, had the same general experiences of growing up in church.

I was grateful about the fact that it wasn’t like church, it was somewhere I could hang out, talk normally without any “Christian-ese”. At the meeting, we talked about the idea of fitting in, and the difficulties of finding a place, whether it be in college or at work. There was good food, good atmosphere, good people, not really more I can ask for.