My first semester.... done. It's unreal to me that I've actually made it through my first semester already. It hasn't been easy, but I've truly learned so much just from these past couple months.

I learned that being away from home is hard. This was my first time being truly independent and not relying on my mom for so much. I've had to make myself go to my 8am's, which was not easy, get my own food, and be responsible more for my actions. I like being away from home, but I miss it so much.

I learned that college is so much different from high school. I went to an all girls, really strict, Catholic school. There were 96 girls in my graduating class and only 400 in the whole school. I went from knowing everyone in my grade to barely knowing anyone here. There are 18,000 students enrolled in the University of Delaware, and compared to my measly 400 in high school, that's crazy.

I learned that I'm going to fail sometimes, and that's okay. The amount of times that I've thought about switching majors just because I didn't immediately understand something or did bad on a quiz is ridiculous. I've finally started to gain the self-confidence I need to really push myself to my full potential

I learned that it's okay to ask for help. I've gone to my professors and teaching assistants numerous times for help. It's okay to need help and not everything is going to come super easy to you. Your professors want you to succeed, so it's super important to reach out when you need it.

I learned that I love my school. I absolutely love it here. I hear from other people about how they aren't happy at their school and want to transfer, but I couldn't even imagine being somewhere else. It genuinely confuses me that people who go on tours here don't immediately fall in love and want to go here, because that's exactly what I did. I know someone who went here and left after the second week, but I couldn't even imagine going to another school because it would fall short of being at the University of Delaware.

So, I know I have many semesters to come and I know that it's only going to get harder, but I would count my first semester as a success. My GPA might not be exactly where I want it to be, but I know I'll have the opportunity to grow and I can make that change to do better.

I can't wait to see what the next semester brings me.