As a senior in high school, I was desperate to get out of my small town and move on to bigger and better things. While that bigger and better thing, also known as Virginia Tech, happened to only be 25 minutes away, I learned a lot about myself and others during my freshman year of college. One of the most important things I learned was to be open-minded and put yourself out there. However, that’s easier said than done. 

I had grown up and gone to school with the same people since kindergarten. In Radford, there is a pre-kindergarten through second grade elementary school, third through sixth grade elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. There were only 4 AP classes offered in my entire high school, there was no such thing as only playing one sport, and the hot thing to do on weekends was to hang out at your friends’ houses while their parents cooked for you. To top it all off, I knew just about every single person, who they were friends with, what sports they played, where they lived, etc.

The first few months of my freshman year were filled with lots of trial and error. I was not only figuring out how to maneuver myself around campus, but I was also discovering that my normal bedtime of 10 p.m. was going to be drastically changed. Dating in college is extremely different than I thought it was going to be, not everyone comes from the same walk of life as I did, and having over a 4.0 GPA was not going to happen. 

I was the definition of a little fish in a big pond. However, with all the confusion that was my first semester, even my first year, I made so many amazing friendships and was given opportunities I would not have gotten if I hadn’t opened up and truly immersed myself in the new world I was given. While I may not have had a 4.0, I joined clubs and organizations on campus and made an effort to meet new people so I could find my new home.   

While I loved growing up in a small town, coming to college was a culture shock.  When my graduating class of 87 kids threw our caps up in the air on graduation day, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like. Yet, that’s the beauty of a new beginning. With a new beginning, you can do and be whomever you want. You don’t have to be the same person you were in high school. I was able to branch out and try things that I had never had seen or had access to before. That’s exactly what gave me the best year of my life to date and I encourage new college freshmen to do the same.