As my freshman year of college comes to an end, it has given me, along with the entirety of the class of 2021, some time to look back and reminisce. From the time I started packing up my life and driving 1,000 miles away from home, up until this moment of packing up my dorm to make the same long voyage home, it is clear that freshman year was an exciting yet weird one that can be summed up in a few notable lessons.
First, the most distinguished aspect of college, living with 1-3 brand new people. Living under a roof of people you are related to by blood is hard enough, but now... living with a whole new individual? In an 8 x 12 foot cell? Scary.
At first, you tip-toe around them to make sure you avoid a potential world war III living condition, but as time passes, you become friends. Maybe not the best of friends, but ones who are willing to lend you some toothpaste when you run out, or to help with your impossible chemistry homework. At first, it may seem scary, but after some established common ground you both become each other's home away from home.
The next new thing a freshman encounters is the feared and oh so dreaded dining hall. No, it may not be as horrific as talked about, but the noodle bowl and bland pizza tends to get old really quickly. Adjusting from your mom's pasta dinners with that homemade sauce recipe from grandma is a serious adjustment made throughout freshman year.
But thanks to the dining hall, you have mastered the accuracy of counting down the days until holidays to be welcomed by your aunt's bomb chocolate chip cookies.
The final and most noteworthy lesson that freshman year of college teaches every individual is independence. As silly and overrated as this may sound, it is the most significant thing an eighteen-year-old face and learns over the course of the year.
Although your mom is just a phone call away to answer all of your silly "adulting" questions, you still are the one figuring life out primarily on your own. Things like managing your time, budgeting your finances (is the $10 on chicken nuggets worth it??), and finding jobs/internships.
So as I stand my final moments in my 8x12 cell, I look around thankful for the moments and lessons my freshman year brought me. I, along with the class of 2021, can leave campus venturing out on my voyage home for the summer grateful for the friendships made and immense amounts of independence gained... even thankful for those noodle bowls and bland pizza as well (maybe that's just me).
