Freshman year is a time for exploration and new-found independence. Looking back at my own freshman year, and looking forward to my sophomore year, it’s interesting to see what has changed. My adventure down to Bloomington changed how I addressed different things in my life, and hopefully, in my own story of “There and Back Again”, I can pass some of my lessons onto you.
After my parents dropped me at the door of Wright Quad and helped me arrange my dorm room, my attitude was an immediate, “Independence! At last!”.
I had nine months to do whatever I pleased, so long as I attended classes and obtained the grades I needed. What was one girl to do with all this new found independence?
Incredibly silly things, of course. Such as:
- Staying out til 5am
- Ordering copious amounts of pizza
- Running through sprinklers at 2am (one of the highlights of my first semester. I suggest doing this on a warm night!)
- Lots of late night food runs (There’s a Domino’s west of campus that’s open until 4am)
- Consuming far too much Mountain Dew
- Scheduling an 8am and immediately regretting it
- Attending classes, but assuming that I’d have to do the same amount of studying that I did in high school (Hint: Definitely not the case).
- Getting on the Internet during class instead of taking diligent notes
I was treating college a bit like high school, except that my parents weren’t around anymore to tell me what I was doing ‘wrong’. Because of that, my grades suffered. When I thought I was going to get an A in a class, I got a B instead, or sometimes significantly lower.
Winter break rolled around, and I realized I had to buckle down if I wanted to succeed.
My attitude going into second semester was a desperate composition of “Let’s get down to business!”. I had a lot of ground to make up, and not much time to do it. While I didn’t give up my meandering ways entirely, I did start to handle myself more effectively.
I managed to:
- Attend my professor’s office hours to ask questions
- Communicate with my professors more effectively
- Become more active in class discussions
- Put more effort into studying (StudyBlue became my best friend during second semester. Check it out here!)
- Manage my pizza ordering/cookie ordering responsibly (twice a month instead of multiple times a week)
- Eliminate most of the soda from my diet (I’m not saying this is essential to succeeding at college, but it wasn’t a terrible idea)
- Stay up late less often
I took my classes more seriously and paid attention more often, thus earning for myself higher grades and more respect from my professors.
Second semester was a lot more fun than first semester, which may seem odd. Once I was able to stress less about my grades, it became easier to have fun. When the end of the year rolled around, I was much more proud of my behavior second semester than I was of my behavior during first. I have good stories from both semesters, of course, but it was interesting to see how much I had changed in just nine months.
My adventure isn’t over, and going into sophomore year, I’m prepared to take the lessons I learned from freshman year along with me.
It’s essential to balance the fun and work of college so that you can get the whole experience, and not just one aspect.
So, incoming freshmen? Have fun! These are going to be a great four years for you, and you should absolutely make the most of them. Keep in mind, though, that you’re here to learn, and that once you find your stride, you’ll succeed in ways beyond your wildest dreams.
