It’s fair to say that we all know the saying “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, but do we really practice that? Think about it. How often do you judge people by the way they look, the way they talk, or by the rumors you have heard about them. How often do you get to know a person before you form opinions about them?

For me, the answer is not very often. I frequently find myself making opinions about a person merely based on what I have heard or seen, when I haven’t even had a conversation with that person. People always say that first impressions are rarely accurate, and I have to say that two days into Ex Ed, I finally have a good reason to agree with that statement.

Essentially, one of the main points of Ex Ed is to get to know a group of people you might not know well, or may have never talked to otherwise. Going onto the Tetons Spring Watch trip, I was terrified that I had only had a full conversation with one of the nine other people in my group, but even this shortly into our trip, I’ve become happy that I didn’t know anyone well. I feel like if I had a closer friend on the trip, I wouldn’t have been as compelled to reach out and make more friends. I might never have looked past that first impression.

I’m not saying that first impressions are not important; the way a person presents himself/herself to the world can say a lot about them. What I’m getting at is that first impressions only give you the thin, outermost shell of a person. Not getting to know a person past you first impression of him or her is like only reading the plot summary of a book. You may know some of their story, but you won’t know all the beautiful and unique details that make them the person they are.

Two days into my trip, I have been proven wrong again and again about every single person on the trip. The seniors that seemed intimidating are now some of the most welcoming people I know. The people I thought talked all the time have turned out to be some of the best listeners. The people who appeared quiet at a glance actually have a lot of valuable things to say. I realize this all sounds fairly cliche, but that is the thing about cliches; they’re usually true. First impressions can be misleading, so maybe just once, get to know the person before assuming what is true of him.