This time last year I was a senior in high school and getting ready to graduate. College seemed like a far away land, and while I was excited about the adventure I was going to take, I didn’t want to rush out of senior year. I was spending time every day with my best friends, hanging out in the art room instead of gym class, and trying to calculate who everyone in my grade had for senior assassin. My life was pretty care free but little did I know that life was going to start moving at a pace ten times as faster that it had before.

As August rolled around I was getting ready to move into my freshman dorm room. I was able to move in early for a retreat called FIRST and I was super excited, but I was also sad at the same time because I was the first of my friends to leave home.

On August 15^th I moved into my dorm room and decorated it to my liking. It was sad saying goodbye to my parents and younger brother, however I was excited to spend the week at the campus lake house for the retreat. Little did I know I would meet some of my best friends during this one week.

The retreat was a blast and I didn’t want it to end. We did many service projects that really brought the Jesuit values of my university to life. I made so many great friends and couldn’t wait to hang out with them on campus.

After the first week of classes I realized that I knew nothing about college and what I wanted to do with my life. I ended up changing my major from Forensic Chemistry to Criminal Justice and was super excited about the path I was on. I also joined the Mock Trial club which I was extremely excited about.

I quickly made more friends than the ones I made on the retreat, two of which lived in my hall. Their room quickly became my room too because I would always hang out in there. My best friends from the retreat also became friends with the girls in my hall and the five of us hang out all the time. We are practically inseparable.

The classes I was taking in the first semester were much more difficult than I thought they would be. Mock Trial was also taking up a ton of my time and energy with all the effort I had to put into learning the case and getting ready for competitions. I also had two jobs on campus that took up a lot of my time. It was hard for me to find a balance and because of this my grades weren’t what I wanted them to be by the end of the semester.

Before I knew it, it was time to go home for winter break. I was so excited to spend time with my family and friends, make some money, and relax! Winter break lasted almost two months and by the end I was ready to go back because I missed my friends so much. It’s weird going home and not living with your best friends like in the dorms.

Finally, its second semester! My classes are going good and I am so happy to be back with my best friends. We are hanging out more often than ever before and I am happier than I have ever been!

So many things are happening and I got so caught up in it all. I had to figure out who I am rooming with, where I am going to live next year, what classes I need to take, and so many other things!

I figured out my classes for next year pretty quickly but had no idea who I was going to live with and where. Sophomore housing is quad style and my friend group was made up of five people. The two girls from my hall are rooming with each other again and going random with quadmates. I am going to be quading with my friends from the retreat but we need one more person. We were asking around for weeks until we found someone! I didn’t know her at first but she soon became a part of my friend group and now I’ve decided to room with her. My friends and I also got the nicest sophomore dorm on campus and we are thrilled!

The second semester of my freshman year sped by. Now I am finishing up finals and packing up my dorm room. I have grown so much as a person this past year and have made lifelong friends. Sure I have had my ups and downs but I made it through and wouldn’t have traded my experience for the world. I was able to work at two amazing campus jobs, compete at Penn State for mock trial, start writing for Odyssey, and even get to be on the planning board for the events on campus next year.

As I look back on who I was before college and who I am now, I can honestly say that I am proud of who I have become and cannot wait to see what the future holds for me.