As winter quarter comes to a close and spring quarter approaches, so does the end of my first year at Western Washington University.

Fall quarter was a mixture of trying to find my place on campus as a transfer student, focusing on my studies and being amazed by the fact that I had finally made it to where I wanted to be.

When I walked into my women's literature course on that first day, I thought I would cry. Not because it's my dream to study Women's Literature, but because I had worked so hard to even get to that classroom.

I have never been so sure of what I wanted to do with my life more than at that moment.

If I'm being blatantly honest, I kicked fall quarters ass for still adjusting and learning how the school works.

By the time Winter quarter had rolled around, I was used to the environment around me. I was on top of my school work and was familiar with the people in my cohort. I made some friends that I can easily discuss the homework (among other things) with. I felt like I belonged.

It's not all butterflies and sunshine, though. Now that spring quarter is on the horizon, I'm starting to burn out. I still love what I'm doing, and I never want to stop, but contrary to popular belief, studying English is hard work.

It requires extensive planning of your day, including how much time you need to dedicate to each class. I'm the girl with the color-coordinated planner because if I don't write everything I have to do in a day, I'll lose my mind.

I've learned this year to give myself a set number of pages to read and made sure to get all my work done on time in order to stay sane.

Although three English classes, all in three different subjects, is a lot of work, I wouldn't change it for the world.