As I'm nearing the end of my freshman year, there has been a lot of time to reflect. I remind myself of how I even started this riveting journey to pursue higher education. One moment I was a senior in high school, excited for summer, and the next moment, I was on a Zoom meeting learning math at 8:00 am.

Despite the deep and cold plunge into adulthood, I have learned to adapt and to move swiftly. I realized what it meant to be able to continue moving forward when it feels like everything is moving backward. I learned that time is limited, but it is also essential.

Upon my many reflections, I realized how quickly everything went. It really is only until the end of things when you have this epiphany of asking - where did the time go? I initially started this school year by taking summer classes, and it was the strangest thing having a break for two weeks and starting as a college freshman through a pixelated screen.

While it was hard, taking a break until the pandemic "passed" wasn't the answer.

One thing I would constantly try to remind myself about was the mere fact that I still had the chance to learn and how grateful I was (and still am) to have the resources to be able to do so. I wanted to take a break, perhaps start in the Spring or anything of that nature, but something within me made me feel like I had to continue.

My end goal is to learn until the end; I have subscribed to the notion that education is key to success. I am grateful to be able to take a break during this summer and work again because this is simply the beginning and the end.

I don't regret my decision not to stop, but I will admit that the motivation only lasted for a while. No one can prepare students for a pandemic; it not something that is written in the books. We all learned the hard way, especially in different situations, and hopefully, most of us were able to get the gist of it quickly. If there's one thing I've learned throughout this all, it is to realize that plans are just plans. They will change, but it shouldn't deter you away from the final picture. This school year has really put this entire idea of "what else could go wrong" in my brain, and I ended up just rolling with it.

After the mess that was the beginning of 2020, there was a lot that happened leading up to where I am now. My first year wasn't the best, but I am glad to have been able to even have one. I've joined a few clubs and met a lot of people that have elevated my experience as a first-year student. Nothing went the way I hoped for it to go or rather imagined it to, but there are only so many possibilities to look forward to.