Let me begin by saying, I am a crier. I admit, I cry at commercials, songs, facebook videos, you name it – I cry at it. My freshman year was an emotional roller-coaster in a wonderful and crazy way. I cried because of heartbreak and I cried because my heart was filled with joy. Freshman year is a transitional year in life and, yeah, I totally shed a few tears.
Homesickness
The first few weeks were pretty hard. Initially, I felt fine when I said goodbye to my parents. It wasn’t until the second night where it hit me that I wasn’t going home anytime soon. When this realization struck, I did what any reasonable person would do: I cried in the shower. I just let it all out and, I will say, it made me feel better.
Feeling Alone
I remember I told my mom, “No one knows me here. I don’t have anyone.” I’m happy to say that this is no longer the case at school. At first, it's so scary to be thrown into a group of kids and have to find the ones you relate to and feel comfortable with. I went to a small high school (my graduating class was 28 people!) I had all the same friends since fifth grade. Coming to college forced me to brush up on my social skills. I’m happy to say I no longer feel alone but I may have had a tiny sob fest in the process.
Laughter
At college, you have such a large pool of people to choose from. There are so many people with so many interests. I love this because I became friends with people I meshed well with, people who understood my humor. I remember deciding this guy Drew and I were going to be friends just because he could always make me laugh. I hope everyone’s college experience can be filled with belly-hurting, tear-jerking laughter.
Heartbreak
Second semester my first real heartbreak set in. While I constantly cried, I assured my friends that 'Yes, I do know how pathetic I look'. They told me that I was being reasonable as I stuffed my face with bagels and ice cream. I never knew hurt in that way, but I also learned from it. This heartbreak made me stronger and I learned so many lessons and grew closer to my friends. I wasted so many tears over that guy my freshman year, but it was worth it when I learned life lessons in the end.
Pure Joy
This is when I get really cheesy and talk about my favorite moment of freshman year. I grew up in the city and never learned how to ride a bike. When I became friends with a bunch of suburban kids, they were shocked and helped me learn. After a couple of hours of practice, I was able to ride a bike! I was so unbelievably happy to have accomplished this goal with the help of all my friends. But that is not when I cried. I cried when I came back to the dorm later that day and there was a brand new bike waiting for me in the lobby of our dorm. My friends pitched in and bought me a bike as an early birthday present. I was in shock and tears started streaming down my face before I could realize it.
The happy tears outweigh all the rest. Despite getting my heart broken, feeling alone, and missing home, the moments that stick out to me and define my freshman year are the happy ones. The ones wherein I threw my head back laughing and the ones wherein I hugged my friends and realized I wasn’t alone. You might cry freshman year, but what’s a transition without a few tears. We grow from our experiences - the good and the bad.
