As I get ready to head back to college next week, I obviously have much to look forward to, as do other college freshmen around me. We got a taste of college in the first semester; a taste of dorm life, the food, the classes. It seems like there isn't much else for us to learn. We know the basics, we've got it down... So what else is there for us to gain from the second semester, and every semester going forward? Shouldn't we just expect the same old experience we had in round one?
That's where I began to really think. A new semester is almost like a new year entirely. We have new classes, new teachers, and of course, this means the opportunity to meet new people. We may end up sitting next to people we've only seen in passing and have never spoken a word to. For some, they've even gone and found a new roommate to begin the new semester with. Some people are even transferring to new schools, deciding the experience they had in the first semester did not bring anything worthwhile to them.
Going into the new semester, I am first and foremostly nervous for what's ahead. Sure, it's the same college. I'm on the same campus I started with, with the same roommate, and the same group of friends, with my same major. So nothing should be too out of the ordinary, right?
I'm not entirely sure. I know we're going to meet new people in our classes, and maybe our friend groups will expand, collapse, or change entirely. It's exciting, yet scary, to think that we could end the school year very differently than it began. The people we considered our best friends at the beginning could be mere memories at the end. Is that necessarily a bad thing?
That's one thing I've come to notice about college. Any and every thing can change in the blink of an eye. People are growing, finding themselves, and there's no guarantee that everything will be the same as it was last semester. Even beyond the people we know, the work is going to become more difficult too, as we move forward into harder classes and finish those general education classes we've been putting off for so long (despite what our advisers tell us. They can't always be right, right?)
Going into the second semester, I look forward to a clean slate. College is a huge environment, and you'll more often than not come across people that have been there even longer than you have, yet you've never seen them before. This is a chance to continue to expand your horizons. It's great if you manage to hang on to the friends you made in the first semester, but it's also okay to branch out and befriend the transfer students and new people you've never had classes with. It's also okay to worry about the new struggle that is this workload. We've gotten used to crying over last minute essays; this time around shouldn't be too different.
Essentially, don't be afraid to embrace some change. We can't stop it from happening, but we can adapt to it and learn to live with it. So raise your glasses (or cups of coffee, in our cases), and here's to the next semester.
