Reflections on the First Semester of Freshman Year

It's definitely been a ride transitioning from Senior Year of HS to Freshman Year of College. There's been so much to adjust to, from a completely different social life to a completely different learning style.

Social Life
I definitely stressed this a lot more than I should've in the beginning of the year. I knew that if I didn't find my group of friends NOW, I'd never have an accepting group that'll feel the same as the ones that start in the beginning of the year. I constantly jumped group to group trying to find a group of friends that would accept me for who I am. I constantly got paranoid every time they had something planned but never told me about it. I forgot that friendships required a two-way street, but fortunately, those friendships didn't last long anyway. Waiting around for them to text me wasn't worth it. Eventually, like all things in God's hands, everything fell into place; I found my group of friends, and I was able to focus on grades more which led to a dramatic increase in my test scores.

Learning Styles
What also struck me hard was the fact that professors aren't going to be holding your hand throughout the semester making sure you knew everything. They weren't going to set out an entire hour just to go over practice final questions during class when there was tons of material to cover. That's why they have office hours. Unfortunately, I did not see the usefulness of office hours until the last week of classes when finals started rolling around, but at least next semester will be a lot easier.

I feel like now that I have a solid base of friends and support that I need, I have everything I need to succeed for college. I know who my roommates are going to be next year. I have the best "best friend" I could ever ask for, being that I haven't had a close friendship like this since elementary school. And I feel like throughout my struggle adjusting to college, I realized that there's a reason why God put me here. There's a reason why I got such an amazing scholarship opportunity at a pretty good school. I'm at a nice comfortable pace in my work, I'm not working as hard as my friends in other schools, and I'm enjoying the city life so much. It's awesome!

I love being closer to my sister both physically and socially. It's awesome that I get to visit her every so often (every other week?) and just be able to catch up with each other in her cozy apartment with a huge bed, even if it just means watching a movie and

I love my mentor and what she's done for me, both in guiding me in the food adventures and knowing how to calm me down during my ridiculously anxious control-freak days.

Thanks to everyone who helped guide me through my first semester as a freshman in college, whether it be through tumblr replies or just simple texts of encouragement. Couldn't have done it without you guys :)