Any Advice for Incoming 1st year students?:
Try to meet as many people as you can during the first week at college. Being away from home for the first time can be tough, but meeting new people and making friends can help homesickness. Remember you’re not alone with those feelings, most first-years will feel that way too.
Have an open mind to new experiences. This might be your first experience living away from your family and/or living in a different state, you will share a hall with a variety of students who might have very different hobbies, interests, cultures, or lifestyles. This is a great opportunity to learn something new about others and possibly discover something about yourself!
Find out about and join different groups, organizations, and associations on campus. This is a great way to meet other people with similar interests, and the easiest way to make friends – you already have something in common ;-)
Why did you become a Hall Director?:
I’ve been working in Residential Life for almost four years. Previous to UNH I was an Area Coordinator for two years at Trinity College, which is very similar to an RHD position. I really enjoy working with college students – my counseling degree actually focused on this age group. I also love working at a college because it’s great to be in an environment that encourages learning and thinking outside of the box, and in my opinion Res. Life is one of the funnest (if that’s even a word!) departments to work in! I also think that being able to live on campus is great because there is always something going on – it’s impossible to be bored!
WOW I get to work with students, a supportive staff, and in a beautiful place – what a great job!!
Why did you choose UNH? What attracted you to the area or the school?:
I’m originally from Hartford, CT (born and raised), but for years I had an itch to move to a not-so urban area. It took me three years to complete my masters because I had a three semester clinical internship after my course of study. During the last few months of my degree I came to the realization that I was passionate about working at a college and should continue in this field. Since my internship was coming to an end I thought – what a great time for change!
When job searching I was very particular and quite the job snob in regards to where I wanted to work. There were several things that attracted me to UNH. It’s mid-sized college and even though there are over 12,000 students enrolled and over 6,000 residents it can still pride itself on having a close-knit community. Durham is beautiful, UNH has over 3,000 acres of land and yet everything is located in close proximity and within walking distance. UNH is also within ten miles of the shore, one hour from the mountains, and fifteen minutes from Portsmouth – how awesome! The Residential Life website is also what attracted me to UNH, the website is so user friendly and welcoming not only for students but anyone who would like to know more about the res halls. Finally meeting the fantastic staff is what sold me. I intrinsically knew that UNH would be the right direction for me.
Any previous experiences, hobbies, etc, that you would want 1st year students to know about you?:
Hmmm, where to start…
I’m a professional cat herder – j/k ;-)!!
As mentioned previously I’m from Hartford, CT. I’m Brazilian-American (my parents emigrated from Sao Paulo, Brazil); I also have Brazilian citizenship and have traveled there about fifteen times. I enjoy traveling, I’ve been to Portugal, Spain, obviously Brazil, and have vacationed in over ten US states. I like hiking, camping, and canoeing. My dream is to go whitewater rafting in the Grand Canyon, and hope to do so next year. I enjoy sketching, printmaking (working with linoleum), and creating mosaics. I love learning about different culture, and trying new cuisines.
I’m a huge fan of horror movies – but not slashers (not a fan of gratuitous violence or gore), suspense thrillers, Asian cinema (which obviously includes Asian horror and suspense), films with a supernatural twist, anything by Guillermo Del Toro and M. Night Shyamalan, anything based on Stephen King’s novels, and love the corny Hammer films of the 60’s and 70’s. I also enjoy comedies and believe it’s important to laugh (milk out of the nose/side-splitting laughter) as often as possible.
Favorite movies: Rosemary’s Baby, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pan’s Labyrinth, the Harry Potter films, Something’s Gotta Give, Kung Pow or anything by Stephen Oedekerk, anything with Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, Katheryn Heigl, Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Morgan Freeman, actually this list never ends…
Favorite TV (most are oldies, but still goodies): X-Files, 4400, Carnivàle, Kolchak the Night Stalker, Bewitched, Nip/Tuck, Supernatural, oh and soooo much more….
Thoughts you might be having coming into your own 1st year at UNH?:
My residents and I will have such a great thing in common; we will all be newcomers to UNH – how exciting! We will all be adapting together, and I would like to welcome them by saying: I hope you’re open to an adventure!!
More Information...
Name:
Carla Machado-Rodrigues, 