To my freshman year:
Thank you for all the awesome memories. Thank you for making me challenge myself. Thank you for all the late nights and early mornings. Thank you for everything.
Freshman year was a crazy year. I met my best friend who happens to be my roommate. I met my boyfriend. I went rafting, snowboarding, hiking. It was full of adventures with new people. I wouldn't trade the last nine months for the world. I tried new things. I went to new places.
It also had some stressful moments. Freshman year has taught me about things I don't ever want to do again, like accounting and economics. It made me question if I should be in college. It made me want to change my major- to something different every day. I learned how to manage several responsibilities at once. I learned how to work, coach a soccer team, go to school full time, and be active in clubs all at the same time. It was difficult but it was worth it. It was worth the new friendships and relationships and responsibilities.
It was still hard. It was hard being away from home, away from my family and my sister. I spent many nights wishing I was back in high school where everything seemed so much easier, but then the morning came and I would realize again how much better college is.
Being in college is not everything I thought it was going in. My freshman year taught me that everyone is here to learn. Everyone is learning about themselves, their aspirations, what they want out of life and college. I imagined it would be a lot different, I thought it would be hard to make friends and talk to people, but it hasn't been. It's easy to get involved, to meet new people, to make friends.
This year has been very challenging academically. I had to learn how to study. I had to actually focus and work at my classes for the first time. Freshman year taught me a lot about my own learning styles and preferences. I had to find ways to study that worked for me. I had to really focus and do my homework. I had to find a balance between all my responsibilities and doing fun things.
Most of all, freshman year taught me to enjoy what I have. It taught me to be appreciative of my family and my parents more than I had ever been. I learned to make time for friends, before college that had never been something of importance to me. It taught me to relax and to slow down, to look at everything around me and to take it all in.
Freshman year has been the toughest year of my life, but it has also been the best year of my life. I gained so many wonderful people and experiences this year and it was worth every tough night and tough class. So you freshman year and here's to an even better sophomore year.
