Making friends during a forced group game.
MAKING FRIENDS DURING A FORCED GROUP GAME.
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Remember those first few days? Orientation was a whirlwind of new faces, unfamiliar dorm rooms, and an undeniable undercurrent of nerves. Then came the dreaded "icebreaker"—a forced group game designed, ostensibly, to help us connect. For many of us, fresh from being top of our classes, the idea of awkwardly performing charades or untangling a human knot felt… well, a little beneath us, perhaps even a bit cringeworthy. We were here to change the world, not pretend to be trees.
Yet, amidst the initial groans and self-conscious laughter, something unexpected happened. The shared awkwardness became a bond. The forced proximity broke down barriers faster than any formal networking event ever could. You saw a glimpse of vulnerability in others, and perhaps, they saw it in you. That person you were paired with for a scavenger hunt might have become your first study buddy, your confidant in navigating campus life, or even a lifelong friend.
We might have hated them in the moment—the contrived rules, the uncomfortable silences—but looking back, those games were often the first crack in the intellectual armor many of us arrived with. They were a raw, unfiltered introduction to the community, proving that even at the highest echelons of academia, human connection begins with shared, sometimes silly, moments. They were formative, whether we admitted it or not.
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