With about two and a half to three weeks remaining in the school year, I've begun to reflect on this year as a whole. If I were to describe it in one word, I'd say it was challenging.
Being away from home and family, having to do things on my own, not having immediate access to my mom when I got sick which, trust me, it happened a lot here. Just all these little details that I'd never thought were important, once I lived away from home, suddenly were very important.
I lost a lot of friends, and I made even more new ones. I'd say navigating the social life was probably the most difficult thing of college. Once I'd learned to let go and not care about things or about people's opinions, only then did things get easier.
Living in the dorms taught me who I would remain friends with after moving out, and who needed to be left behind.
I'd say so far in my college experience, the hardest part about classes is actually getting up and going to them. Having so much freedom means making good decisions, and a lot of my hardest decisions were about whether or not I needed to go to class that day.
The other most difficult part about classes? Keeping up with what work is due when. Professors, as I've come to learn, don't remind you constantly about due dates and deadlines like they do in high school. It's up to you as the student to be on top of your crap.
I've learned a lot about time management, with all the activities that I do on top of school work. Calendars! While I used to make fun of my mom for being constantly tied to her calendar, I've realized that having one is actually one of the best ways to keep your schedule in order and stay on track. Keeping up with a calendar is like keeping up with adulthood.
Another thing I've realized about myself since coming to college is that I'm not meant to share a room with someone else. This doesn't mean I'm an awful person to live with or the person I lived with was an awful person. It just means that when you have a roommate, you have less privacy, and you almost never really have alone time.
Sometimes, I really like being by myself. Sometimes, I even need to be by myself. Which is why I'm glad to say, I will be living in an apartment with three other girls, all in single rooms next year. That way, when I want to be alone, I can actually be alone.
In learning all of this throughout the year, I'm ready to apply it and make my college experience improve even further next year. All the issues I had this year will be a thing of the past. The goal is to not let history repeat itself, and I think I can do it.
This year has been not only very eventful but also very eyeopening. Even though some of it wasn't enjoyable, I'm still glad it happened because everything happens for a reason, and I can learn from my experiences.
So, here's to the end of freshman year, and here's to the upcoming sophomore experience.
