My First Semester At College

Speaking of scary things – I’m already nearly halfway through my first semester of college! Life seems to be moving surreally fast, even as each day feels very long. I really miss the comfort of family and home but am so grateful to have the chance to learn and grow in the incredible university setting.

I really love my classes. There’s a huge difference from the intimate, close-knit community of high school. I miss the classroom learning environment, especially because I am someone who learns best when I ask many clarifying questions immediately. My teachers in high school really encouraged asking questions and I enjoyed being on close terms with them. Now, I’m 1 of 300 students in enormous lecture classes. While I don’t like being unable to ask all my questions immediately and feeling like an anonymous member of the class, I LOVE what we’re learning. In my first semester, I’m taking neuroscience, chemistry, object-oriented programming, and a comparative religions class about South Asia. These classes aren’t exactly predicated on textbooks. The professors set the pace for the courses. In neuro, the usual units are broken up by our studying diseases and disorders having to do with that facet of neuroscience. The first unit of chem was a deep dive into quantum mechanics. It is so cool to be able to learn about these incredibly interesting topics. The workload, however, is as intense as it is fascinating. My computer science classes take me about 20 hours per project. I must study much harder for midterms in college than I studied for any test in high school – and I had to work HARD in high school! It’s just another level of difficulty in college.

I do find myself easily stressed, because it is difficult to navigate a whole new set of challenges. Each day of experience, however, makes it easier to know how to cope with a challenge, and I’m pretty excited about tackling the academic challenges this semester and the ones to come.

Another aspect of being in college is the social one. Living, working, sleeping, and playing all in the same place is interesting. Despite my worries on the matter, making friends at college was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The only important thing is staying true to yourself. It was especially difficult in the first few weeks when I thought everyone seemed very comfortable on campus, and that I was the only one struggling to adjust. This simply isn’t the case! All freshmen have a bit of a hard time in the first weeks. Also, it was wonderful to have my family of friends and mentors rooting for me. I had some great conversations with people at home early on the semester which helped me refocus my perspectives for the semester. Also, I was very inspired by one of my teachers – Mr. Boucher. Bouch is always a very determined person- goal-oriented and very true to himself. He has a few quotes he always repeats, about giving your best effort to any initiative and being authentic. I repeat these quotes to myself so often at school. I also leaned on my faith. Now, I feel much more comfortable on campus, with friends all over. I’m still getting used to life as a college student. I’ve grown a lot! But there’s still a long way to go, and I’m so excited that the journey’s only just beginning. 🪷