This week will conclude the second week of my sophomore year of college. There is a rush of emotions associated with returning to campus and seeing all your old friends. I have compiled here a short list of things you go through when returning to college for your sophomore year.
1. You reflect on your freshman year
You remember the transition from high school to college life. From living at home to being independent in your dorm. The difficulty of trying to hang out with all of your friends to living right down the hall from them. You remember how much you missed your friends from home and how fun but short your summer was with them. You remember the crazy course load and the stress that accompanied it. You make goals from the coming semester and get excited about taking higher level courses and seeing your college friends.
2. You Relic in the Fact that you are no longer a freshman
You’re finally on campus and all of a sudden it hits you! You actually made it through your freshman year and you are a sophomore. I remember finally getting on campus and I saw a group of people I hadn’t seen before and then I realized they were the incoming freshman. I immediately turned to my mom and said “OH MY GOSH Mom, I’m not a freshman anymore!” She chuckled to herself but I was really excited that I no longer had to endure the hate that freshman get.
3. You get to decide how you’re going to feel about the new freshman
It is like an unspoken rule that says that you have to hate freshman. They are dumb, irresponsible, and too excited about everything. I did not have those feelings however. I was excited about new people coming especially the people from my high school. I remember my freshman year the older students from my high school sort of took me under their wings and whenever I needed anything I knew I could ask them. I wanted it to be sort of a tradition and I wanted to be as helpful as possible. I check in periodically to see how their doing with classes and whenever there is something happening during the weekend I invite them to come.
4. You see all your friends from the prior year
Maybe you had to chance to see them and hang out over the summer. Or maybe you were away on vacation and didn’t have any sort of contact. No matter you’re super excited to get to see them again. This is especially true if you’re rooming with someone new as I am. I moved from my double with my high school friend to a triple with two friends I met while at college. I was so eager to see them and all my other friends that I could only text or call over the summer. It was like picking up from where you left from the last semester.
5. You will drift from your friends
It will probably be unconsciously, but without living in the same dorm it is easy to slowly drift away. It isn’t something you should panic about, like I did for a split second. I’m already really bad about keeping in contact with people so if I have to put on shoes and walk out of my dorm it won’t happen too often. It just showed me who I really had as a priority. I go the extra step of asking friends from other halls if they want to study together or come for a movie night. So don’t totally freak out, just take note of who you really want to see and try to schedule something like having lunch twice a week or try to see if you can get a class with them.
6. You will remember what you loved and hated about your college
A running joke that my friends and I had was when there was something that we didn’t like we’d just say, “Welcome back” and shrug our shoulders. When at home you forget how easy it is to shower without having to grab your shower shoes and caddy. Or when you’re hungry you know you can count on yourself to cook a nice meal instead of depending on a less than mediocre food café. Or the worst offense is going into the bathroom and finding some sort of mess and you just think about if you were home you wouldn’t have to deal with this.
7. The excitement of starting classes and going further on your journey
Back to the first point of finally making it to sophomore year, you can go from the basic level courses to getting more into your major. You can begin to see the path of which you’re going down. You find the people with the same interests as you and find your study groups. You begin to plan out your future a bit more and remind yourself to have fun people just like freshman year went by too quickly the entire college experience will be gone before you know it.
