The time has finally arrived.
You power through your last final, and exit the extremely hot College Ave Gym Annex. No more sitting in a too-small desk and having to stretch your neck every ten minutes. On the A bus back to your dorm, you pass several iconic Rutgers landmarks — the Yard, RU Hungry, even the SAC. A quiet peace has fallen over the bus stops like a soft blanket, and somewhere in your subconscious, a nostalgic tune starts to play. It has truly been the best of times, and the worst of times.
I remember one year ago... The college brochures and all of the beaming kids on the front, promising that freshman year will change your life. It does. It did. There are visions of becoming best friends with your roommate, studying with your new massive friend group, and partying until dawn. There is no way you can mentally prepare yourself for the amount of work you'll have to do, but you convince yourself that you're prepared anyway.
First semester hits you like an electric shock. No one tells you that your high school "friends" would cease to exist the second classes started. No one tells you that the great friendships you had made "for life," would be reduced to mere awkward eye contact. No one tells you that some nights, you'll be so stressed out, you have to eat sleep for dinner.
Your skin breaks out. Gone is the once ever-present vitality on your face; it's been replaced with dark circles that seem to get darker with every passing day. No one ever tells you about the days you'll live like a ghost in college.
But some things you've been told, they've proved to be absolutely true. You've cycled through new friends like socks throughout the school year, but the ones that stuck at the end are here to stay. Never have you met a group of people who know you like the back of their hands. People who make you wonder where you went wrong with your "friends" from high school. You've taken classes that have made you question being alive, but you've also taken classes that have taught you so much about yourself and who you will be.
Freshman year has allowed you to blossom. Regardless of the roots you bloomed from, you have survived. You have surmounted an unreal amount of growth, someone so different from who you used to be.
I am grateful for everything this year has given me: the long nights of lost sleep, but also the long days of newfound experiences. Although freshman year has come to a close, I've learned that my time to thrive has not, and that from here, there is nowhere to go but up.
