As a freshman, coming back to school for the second semester is almost as nerve-wracking as going for the first time. I do know my way around most of the campuses, have a good group of friends and know a lot of the best places to eat. Still, the idea of meeting all new professors and making a whole new set of friends in my classes is stressful. I have classes on a campus I've barely been to and it's hard to make time for the people who were my friends last semester because of previously shared classes. It's the first day back I already feel like the work is piling up and I'm racing to stay in front of it. My classes have gotten harder, my responsibilities have hit and it's easy to overthink and worry too much about the future in a work-intensive environment.
Any new experience has an adjustment period, but although I feel that I've adjusted to Rutgers, having new classes each semester keeps you on your toes. In some ways, it's a good system because once you take your final you're done with that class forever unlike the monotony of the same dragging classes in high school, and I never feel disinterested. Going from my high school to Rutgers was a big change: I went from a school with no midterms and no finals to tests, midterms, and finals for every class.
Another part of going back means renewing my commitment to try to work out a few days a week and to eat healthier. Last semester it was hard to keep up a healthy lifestyle because I often found myself very overwhelmed by my school work. This semester my roommate and I have decided to work on being healthy together so that we can motivate each other to stick with it. I think the most significant thing I learned from going to college is how important it is to take care of is yourself. It's almost impossible to focus on your school work and do well when you aren't putting your own mental and physical health first.
I've always been a person who loves to be home with family. Rutgers isn't far from home, but leaving my late nights with my sister, home cooked meals and my two cats has been hard. A lot of the times I miss the comfort of home and the ability to sleep in my own bed. College, although liberating, can feel very lonely. Rutgers and home feel like two different worlds and sometimes I feel like two different people in both of them. Learning how to balance them might take a while but in many ways, it's fun to be able to experience different things with different people. I don't have to be one person and I'm not confined to the stress of college or the lazy days at home. Hopefully, this semester will go as well as last semester, and sophomore year I'll be a little more prepared for the change.
