My freshmen year of college was one of the best of my life. It was a time that I needed to grow and find the parts of myself that I couldn't find while I was in high school. There was a level of self-discovery and self-acceptance that lead me to where I am today and I needed college to do that for me. I met friends that I know will be there the rest of my life and discovered a support system in them to help when life throws a curve ball at me. A year and half later and I still don't know how I would find a way to thrive here without them. When I got to sophomore year I was beyond excited to get back on campus. Not to take classes -- no one likes classes -- but I just missed being around the people that had become my family when I was away from mine. Maybe I was naive for not guessing this, but in hindsight, I wish I would have had a better idea of how different sophomore year would be. This I what I wish I would have known:
1. In general, it's going to be different. It's hard to explain just what aspects will evolve as time progresses, but it's important to recognize that the circumstances will be different. You'll be living in a different place with different people and even though I wouldn't change my current roommates even it if saved my life, my freshmen dorm room and my floor were where I made my home here when I was forced to be independent from my actual home. My residence hall and my floor in general was its own little community, and we would all go throughout our days and then be with each other in the floor lounge that night catching up. Now, sitting here over halfway done with my sophomore year, I miss that community every day. I miss my old residence hall and I miss the people that lived around me. I'm still friends with a lot of them, but it's just not the same as the safe space we made together last year.
2. Classes will be much harder. I don't know why this was as shocking to me as it was. I remember talking to some friends that were sophomores at the time and they warned me of the jump, but I guess I didn't let it register enough. By sophomore year, you're done taking the intro level courses and on to taking high-level ones. The workload in general was a huge jump for me. It's like the professors were kind of holding your hand through classes and then all of a sudden they just push you off the dock and you have to learn how to swim. There's no swimming lessons or anything, you just have to learn how to adapt. Managing time is huge. If you don't you will get behind very quickly.
3. Your friendships will change. Just from different living situations and the increase in workload, it's hard to be close with the amount of people you were close with freshmen year, and that's okay. It's realizing and accepting that both of your lives are changing and you don't have the time for the things you did before. Be patient. It's okay. It doesn't mean you care about them any less than you did the year before. Along with that, you're all still growing and changing. Some of your friends are getting girlfriends or boyfriends so you spend less time with them, but it doesn't mean that you don't value their company when you are with them. It's just not the same as it was when you were meeting fresh into college.
Sophomore year is just different and a lot of those differences are kind of hard. You have more responsibilities, your classes are harder, and a lot of aspects of your life have changed unwillingly and it's difficult to accept these changes and move on. Freshmen year had its downsides like any situation does, but as sophomore year progresses, I miss last year more and more. It was a time of my life that I felt safe in. I was figuring out who I was, liking who I was becoming, and growing around people that I still really care about today. Not every year is going to be great, but I wish I wouldn't have felt so blindsided to the changes and differences that occurred. This year has had a lot of downs and some incredible highs, and that's all part of moving forward. These are just my experiences with this transition.
