When I graduated high school, many of my friends were anticipating the four year stretch of university dorm shopping, mile-long walks to classes, and all you can eat dining halls. In short, the typical "college experience" that we see in movies. On the other hand, I was still reeling from my rejection letter to my dream school, UCLA.

I went into community college with the mindset that I was already behind all my friends who went away to school. Behind on the midnight adventures I'd watch via Snapchat or parties I'd be told about through FaceTime convos.

What I learned in my first year of community college was something I never expected.

1. Being a team player 

Viktorya Saroyan

One of my favorite high school experiences was playing on the water polo team, so it's no surprise I signed up to play at my CC too. Going from a crowded team of catty and overly-dramatic at times, the team I grew within my first year taught me more about my favorite sport than the past four years ever did. Waking up every weekend at 5 am to file into a crowded van for tournaments led to some of the greatest memories made. From running into public fountains just for laughs to napping in team piles in-between games, the rendezvous with sleep deprived, hyper teammates, made me discover my family away from family.

2. How to manage my time

Viktorya Saroyan

UCLA only accepts junior transfers for a majority of majors, so I knew that if I wanted to transfer in after just one year it would take a lot of planning, a lot of classes, and some very brilliant essay question answers. At one point during the fall semester, I was juggling water polo practices, two jobs, an internship, alongside five classes while maintaining a 4.0. If there is anything I learned while buried under a mountain of Bio labs and English readings, it's how to keep busy and sane simultaneously.

3. How to trust myself

Viktorya Saroyan

I spoke to my Bio professor after the first day of class to tell him about how I would need to miss multiple labs throughout the semester as they conflicted with my water polo games. He told me on the first day of class that there was no way I would be able to pass his course given what I had told him. Four months later, I left for winter break with an A on every test we'd taken and an A in the class. It's hard to listen to someone in a position of authority let you believe your abilities are less than the norm, so proving them wrong is all the sweeter in the end.

4. Looking past the stereotypes

Viktorya Saroyan

Someone I looked up to a lot told me that they were disappointed in me when I told them about my plans to attend a CC. My mother's coworkers advised against taking such a route. Even my friends asked me why I didn't just pick another UC to attend. In attending community college, I learned more than just what was taught in classrooms. I learned from the three mothers who sat at my table in Bio class what it means to love their child enough to go back to school for them. I learned from a woman in my Sociology class about the social privileges she was able to entertain in America compared to the life she had back in Iran a few years prior. I learned what depression really did to individuals, I learned how even professors weren't perfect, and I learned what it looked like to see your work pay off when I and half a dozen other women screamed in celebration in the Foreign Language building the Monday after UCLA acceptance letters were sent out. Most importantly, however, I learned to look past the stigmas about a community that helped me grow into the student I am today.