Thirteen weeks - that's how long we've been here. Thirteen weeks of starting new friendships, thirteen weeks of stress, thirteen weeks of new experiences. I don't know about you, but they have been simultaneously the longest, yet shortest thirteen weeks of my life. We have two more weeks of classes to go in our first semester, freshman year, and I think it's as good a time as any to reflect on what these few months have brought me.
But first, let me take a moment to define adventure. Every time you visit my blog, I am telling you to "take a break from stressful college life and come on an adventure." So why am I writing about college when I'm saying take a break from college? It's simple, because adventure (according to dictionary.com) is an exciting or very unusual experience. Adventure involves exploration; through it you learn more about the world and about yourself. And I've realized that college is really the most exciting adventure I've ever embarked on.
Sleeping in a tent outside of Beaver Stadium, meeting Keegan Key, hiking a mountain (or a big hill?), feeding chipmunks, becoming involved with THON, dropping my first class, crying over GPAs that died before they were ever born, and sitting with friends eating pokey sticks at 4 in the morning, I've loved every minute I've been in college. Even when I've hated it, I've loved it. Every day, something new can happen. You can stumble upon a rally where the guest speaker is Lea DeLaria, sign up for a club where you can learn to fly, and meet someone who you know will always be a part of your life from that point onward.
We plan our futures. Plan our schedules and predict our GPAs. We worry about how we're going to manage all of our credits, our homework, our exams. Whether or not our resumes are good enough to bring to the career fair, whether or not that company will offer us an internship. But in between all of the planning and the worrying, we are living our lives. Our new, exciting college lives, rife with possibilities. With the New Year coming up so soon, I want to make a resolution to make the most of those possibilities: Spend less time on Netflix, more time taking advantage of every new experience this campus has to offer. I want to try new things, dance a lot, and be able to look back on this time and call it four of the best years of my life.
When people told me that first semester would fly by, I didn't really believe them. Fall break seemed years away to the me that was trying her best not to cry when she said her first real goodbye to her dad. But now I believe them. The end of our first semester is drawing near, and soon enough it will be the end of freshman year. Then before we know it, it'll be senior year, we'll be stressing about writing a thesis, finding a job, and starting another new adventure.
Life is full of adventures, and we have to make every one count. We have all embarked on our ultimate adventure. Let's make it memorable.
But first, let me take a moment to define adventure. Every time you visit my blog, I am telling you to "take a break from stressful college life and come on an adventure." So why am I writing about college when I'm saying take a break from college? It's simple, because adventure (according to dictionary.com) is an exciting or very unusual experience. Adventure involves exploration; through it you learn more about the world and about yourself. And I've realized that college is really the most exciting adventure I've ever embarked on.
Sleeping in a tent outside of Beaver Stadium, meeting Keegan Key, hiking a mountain (or a big hill?), feeding chipmunks, becoming involved with THON, dropping my first class, crying over GPAs that died before they were ever born, and sitting with friends eating pokey sticks at 4 in the morning, I've loved every minute I've been in college. Even when I've hated it, I've loved it. Every day, something new can happen. You can stumble upon a rally where the guest speaker is Lea DeLaria, sign up for a club where you can learn to fly, and meet someone who you know will always be a part of your life from that point onward.
We plan our futures. Plan our schedules and predict our GPAs. We worry about how we're going to manage all of our credits, our homework, our exams. Whether or not our resumes are good enough to bring to the career fair, whether or not that company will offer us an internship. But in between all of the planning and the worrying, we are living our lives. Our new, exciting college lives, rife with possibilities. With the New Year coming up so soon, I want to make a resolution to make the most of those possibilities: Spend less time on Netflix, more time taking advantage of every new experience this campus has to offer. I want to try new things, dance a lot, and be able to look back on this time and call it four of the best years of my life.
When people told me that first semester would fly by, I didn't really believe them. Fall break seemed years away to the me that was trying her best not to cry when she said her first real goodbye to her dad. But now I believe them. The end of our first semester is drawing near, and soon enough it will be the end of freshman year. Then before we know it, it'll be senior year, we'll be stressing about writing a thesis, finding a job, and starting another new adventure.
Life is full of adventures, and we have to make every one count. We have all embarked on our ultimate adventure. Let's make it memorable.
I would say that this was the perfect way to conclude your blog.It made me sentimental somewhat because it truly is amazing how fast this semester has flown by and how fast Senior year will get here, just like it was in high school.I love how you included a resolution to yourself to ",make the most out of possibilities." Hopefully we can all make a resolution to ourselves to do the same.Great job!
ReplyDeleteOur first semester has flown by, and if second semester goes by this fast, it will be the end of our freshmen year before we know it! This blog post was great, and really made me want to enjoy the time while it's still here!
ReplyDeleteIt is absolutely true that college has completely different environment than any other places that I have been in the past. There are a lot of people. Since there are a lot of people, there are a lot of unusual people as well. As there were something that made me angry, there were something that made me happy. GPA is the most stressful thing that we are facing right now. Especially for Paterno fellows or members of Honors College because they have to maintain their GPA to certain point. I really like your posting! Thank you and I will look forward to read more of your articles next semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Natalia, I relate to so much of what you have written. Time has flown by. It's weird to think how much we've matured and changed since our parents dropped us off in August. I think we forget a lot of times that college is an adventure and that we should make the most of it while we are here. Thanks for reminding me. Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds so cliché but truly you are right! The semester has flown by, and the past thirteen weeks have been the fastest of my life. Great post!
ReplyDeleteGreat last post before the upcoming breaks. Although we know Netflix is a black hole, the experiences offered every day here at PSU are definitely invaluable. I definitely agree that while academics come first, other experiences and college take a very, very close second.
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