C5’s First In-Person Work Day

First day of in-person work nerves:

Picture this: It’s your first day of in-person work. You’re about to meet your co-workers who you’ve been working with for months virtually, but this time, in-person. It’s early and you can hear the birds chirping as you prepare for the day. Maybe you feel nervous. Maybe you feel excited. Maybe you can’t wait to meet everyone. This is what I imagine many of us have been experiencing recently throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

What to expect on your first day of in-person work at the Coro office:

On my first day, I thought it would be awkward to meet everyone in-person for the first time, even though we had met before. But I was wrong. I promise meeting people for the first time in-person after meeting them virtually actually isn’t as bad as it sounds. Yes, it seems a little weird, but this is now the new normal for many of us. So I want to share my first experience by leading you through the first day I met my cohort members of C5.
I just want to say right now that it was more normal than I was expecting it to be. When I think back to the first day, I think about the icebreaker activities. The room was filled with laughter, and my guess is that if you were to enter that room, you could feel the great energy in the atmosphere. Well, minus the activity where we had to guess what Marvel character was taped on our back. That stressed me out. I don’t watch a lot of movies… so you can probably figure out how well I did. (I came in last place in case you were still wondering.) There was another activity where everyone had to lower a broomstick, disguised as a “helium stick” to the ground. Eric, Briana, and Alissa were on one side, and Giselle, Ehryn, and I were on the other. It took a few tries, and a lot of Eric yelling at me because I was allegedly “lifting it higher.” I’m not sure if I’ll forgive him for yelling at me, but we’re friends now so I guess it’s okay. I’m exaggerating when I say that, but it feels like that when the pressure is on. The best part of the day was the activity where we all drew each other. Each person took 30 seconds to draw everyone in the cohort, then passed it to another member of the group to do the same thing. Everyone had a turn to draw some part of someone’s face. I even still have my portrait hanging on the wall in my room. When people see my portrait, they think she’s my doppelgänger. If you were to see it, I’m sure you would too.

So what?

So what I guess I’m trying to say is, COVID-19 has made a lot of new things to many of us the new norm. So whether it’s your first time meeting your teacher or peers at school, your co-workers, or members of your cohort at the Coro office in Pittsburgh, it’s okay to be nervous. It’s okay to feel whatever you’re feeling. But remember, you’ve technically already met. And honestly, you’ll probably end up having a good time when that does happen. In fact, maybe meeting virtually first will make meeting in-person even easier. And if you’re lucky like me, maybe you’ll even end up making some good friends.

– Mackenzie Soriano