Throughout life, everyone has numerous “first days,” weather it be the first day of high school, the first day of college, or the first day of a new job. For me, the night leading up to my first day of anything is always the same.

    The night before my first day of high school I barely slept. I was so nervous about the new journey I was about to embark on. Questions flooded my head - will I get made fun of? What am I going to wear? Will I fail? What will my teachers be like? What will the seniors do to me? At the same time, I felt a feeling of excitement about all the new people I was about to meet. That morning I watched the clock tick for about an hour prior to my alarm going off. I woke up, got ready, and yelled up the stairs to my brother, a senior at the time, “hurry up or we were going to be late for school.” My stomach was turning as I walked into Buffalo Grove High School for the first time as a student. My first day was awesome and it turned out that I had no reason to worry about it. I met so many people, many of whom I am still friends with to this day. The night before my first day of college was relatively similar. Unlike high school however, my first day of college was a little more overwhelming, but it still proved to be nothing worth losing sleep over.

    The night before my first day at HRB followed a similar pattern. I found it difficult to fall asleep, and I woke up about an hour before my alarm went off. As I made the 35 minute drive from Iowa City up to Cedar Rapids, I reminded myself of my first day of high school and college. As I walked into the HRB office, I was immediately welcomed by Rochelle and a sign that read “HRB welcomes Jessica Soraparu.” I was then welcomed by the rest of the HRB staff and I quickly recognized that the people at HRB are a great group of people. I realized how lucky I am to have the opportunity to work with and learn from all of them. Although my first day was a little overwhelming trying to remember everyone’s names and learning the computer system, it went way better than I had expected.

    Today is the first day of my second week at HRB, and I am happy to say I am fitting in just fine. I’ve realized that I will have many responsibilities here at HRB and I am very excited to see what the future holds.

Until Next week…

Jessica