you did it.
You just made it through your first semester of college. After what seemed like the quickest semester ever (I mean, that went by ridiculously fast), the final grades are in, and the GPA is calculated. Now, it may not be the GPA of your highest expectations, but it was still a point in the win column. It shows bumps, and scratches, but it also shows room for improvement, and a chance to show that you learned, and I mean really learned, so much your first semester. It wasn't a perfect semester, but it wasn't meant to be. You dived head first into a completely new experience and took it day by day, week by week, month by month, and now, you get to start taking it semester by semester.
Thinking back to that first week, you have come a long way. You took one look at the syllabus and was shocked. "Just 3 tests? Where are the homework and daily work grades?" Well, at that moment you realized those were no longer an added bonus to your grade, and that added bonuses don't really exist. After that first week with a few quizzes, you were exhausted. Fast forward to the first week of tests and boy was that a learning week. That week, there were a lot of low grades, but that's when you started to gain an understanding of how college worked. You spent the rest of the semester making up for those low test grades, and studying all the time.
Finding friends seemed hard at first, but soon pre-med and line camp friendships sprouted, and out of that came some of the best relationships that made leaving Waco for 3 weeks hard. Most weekends were spent laughing in the basement of the library with other pre-med friends or taking a break to go watch basketball and football. The free nights were spent having sleepovers with your line camp friend and her roommate watching chick flicks and eating canes. There were nights where you learned that taking time for yourself was okay too, because everyone needs a little rest and recovery sometimes.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday you had the full college experience waking up for your 8 am chemistry class, but you eventually didn't mind. Getting to walk across campus in the early hours of the morning without anyone around was a peaceful start to your day. The dining hall was not your favorite aspect of Baylor, but it started to grow on you. The salad bar was your best friend when the chicken wasn't.
Looking back on this semester, there were mistakes, but there were also victories. College was not meant to be easy, but it is there to challenge you and help you grow. Each semester is going to continue to go by faster and faster, and you will probably make a mistake or two, but throughout it all, you will continue to flourish and learn. Eventually you are going to walk across the stage again, just like you did back in June, and will look back to this freshman semester and smile, because the memories and challenges you faced are molding you into the graduate to come.
