To my freshman year of college,
It's hard to believe that it was just a year ago that I was sitting in a high school classroom counting down the days until graduation. I had mixed feelings and emotions about leaving for college, along with a thousand questions that ran through my head every night before I went to bed. What if I don't make any friends? What if I chose the wrong school? How am I supposed to become an adult without my mom there with me? What if I hate college?
It was August 21, 2015, when I first came to Athens as an official student at Ohio University, and I couldn't be more upset that it is about to come to an end. Thank you for making a dorm with cluttered rooms, bi-polar shower temperatures and low quality air conditioning a home away from home, along with the strangers that I live with that happened to turn into family. I couldn't be more grateful for all of those early 8:30 A.M. classes that determined my mood for the rest of the day, or the two and a half-hour lectures where I sat pondering the 20 other things that I'd rather be doing at the time. I'm thankful for having to shower in flip-flops and swipe into a dining hall in order to eat a meal, along with having to walk everywhere.
The past eight and a half months have taught me more than I have ever learned in the past 19 years, from how to change the filter in an AC unit, to how to give the perfect persuasive speech. Only having a microwave has expanded my horizons of the simplicity of cooking, along with how to make the best Easy Mac you will ever taste. Thank you for teaching me the responsibility of washing my own clothes, and finally figuring out how to get my muddy white converse back to spotless. My utmost respect goes to the people who let me pet their dogs without judging my overwhelming excitement of cuddling a furry friend for the first time in weeks. Cheers to me coming to college with a full bank account and leaving with only a couple hundred left.
In conclusion, I appreciate everything you have given me these past eight and a half months, and I'm still confused how it has gone by so fast. From taking the dreaded walk up Jeff hill to getting one last Big Mama's burrito before the end of the semester, I am forever thankful for this beautiful place. It's hard to believe that eight and a half months ago I was crying thinking about how much I would miss home, but now I'm crying because I don't want to go home. So, thank you, for some of the best times of my life, and I can't wait for the next three years to come.
All my love,
A soon-to-be sophomore in college
