Photo courtesy of blog.ingleinternational.com
As I get ready for the upcoming school year, I recall my past two years and how those years have helped me grow as a person.
Freshman year brought a storm of confusion, stress and emotions — but also fun. It was the first year of new experiences. It was the first year away from home for weeks at a time. Freshman year was the start of finding out more about myself. I grew both academically and socially.
One of the first things I learned was that I didn’t need to bring everything with me. I will admit that I overpacked and didn’t have enough storage space for everything. I learned that study groups are very helpful because I learned more while studying with classmates than on my own.
I learned to keep in touch with family and call them often. I only live about 20-30 minutes away, but I still call my mom to update her on my life here at Xavier. I told her about my classes, my new friends and everything.
I learned that you should definitely go to class and READ THE SYLLABUS. When you miss a class, you miss a lot of material and it becomes difficult to catch up. I learned that syllabi are very handy because they remind you of your due dates for assignments and projects. I learned that extra credit can be a big help at the end of semesters.
When you’re in your room, leave the door open. Doing this helped me socialize more. It also motivated me to keep my room clean.
I also learned that you don’t have to be best friends with your roommate — being acquaintances was good enough for me and my roommate freshman year.
One last important thing I learned my freshman year is that it is okay – and better – to ask for help rather then try and figure it out on my own.
My sophomore year taught me to be careful when choosing roommates. When it came time to choose where to live and who to live with in the fall semester, it was stressful because I met someone new but didn’t actually get the time to really know them before asking them to join the group for housing for sophomore year.
Getting involved was important for developing a good social life. Joining clubs helped me make a lot of new friends and they look good on a resume.
Through the rest of my years, my circle of friends changed and branched out to include different people with different interests. The changing of my friend group helped me figure out better ways to balance my time between people.
Sophomore year, the workload got harder and I learned that I would not stay friends with everyone I met freshman year.
A lot of friends from my first year ended up becoming acquaintances and I learned who my true friends were.
I have also learned to not take my college career for granted. While I may be stressed and want to skip this part of my life right now, I know I’ll miss college. I’ve met friends for life here and I realized that just having the opportunity to go to college to continue my education is rare.
The last lesson I’ve learned is that being homesick is different than it used to be. Instead of missing my family during the school year, I miss my friends during the summer time, because Xavier has become my home.
By: Leah Himes ~Guest Writer~