Two hundred forty-six days. Twenty-nine credits. Eleven classes. Twenty-one Alligator blog posts. One freshman year.
I can sum up my freshman year of college in numbers or at least sum up the basics. But numbers can’t convey everything I’ve learned and experienced. It seem cliché to say that college has been such a growing experience and there hasn’t been anything like it and I’ll be so sad it’s over, etc., etc. You get the idea.
But seriously, I’ve never experienced anything like this before. You learn about people than you do in the safe confines of high school. People grow, they change, and they either become more capable or seem to completely regress. Friendships are founded on more than just how many classes you have together. Living with someone every day really makes you seem them in a different light.
I have loved living on campus. I don’t care that I have to share a bathroom with 40 other girls – I got over that the first week of living in a dorm. I have liked living among so many people. My floor is very social and there’s always someone around to talk to. The lack of privacy has only started to rub on me in the past few weeks. I guess I’m ready to go home where I can go in my room and shut the door and have my own space. But for the most part, I have really enjoyed living in a dorm.
One of the best parts of college so far has been being able to try so many new things. There are so many groups and organizations and, as a journalism major, so many publications looking for writers that it can be overwhelming. But I have loved finding something new around every corner. It has really broadened my point of view and that is something I hope other freshman have gained as well, if nothing else.
I have heard that freshman year is like nothing else. Maybe that’s true, I don’t know yet. I won’t miss the stressful transition period but I will miss the newness of everything. I suppose what’s kind of scary is that the next time I will be going through a big transition period is when I graduate from college. But, that’s not for a few years yet.
Adios freshman year, it’s been real and it’s been fun. Yeah, I guess it has been real fun.
