A lot of people will say, “college will be the best time of your life!” and I would agree. Throughout my first year of college, I learned quite a bit about myself, some good and some bad.

Some of the good things include living in a dorm and being fully responsible for myself. I love living in a dorm and being responsible for my own well-being is cool. I clean a lot more than I thought I would and I haven’t skipped a class... so I can get up by myself. I also can introduce myself to random strangers and not feel totally awkward, I’m still extremely introverted but it’s a start.

I can show some people I haven’t known for a long time who I actually am, I don’t feel like I need to conform to fit how others want me to act. I’m not afraid to ask for help, I pretty much live in my advisor's office, my unofficial advisor's office and in my tutoring sessions.

I know when too much is too much, through the help of my advisor and my parents (and through tears.) I can let some things go, even if it’s hard. I had to give up dancing as much as a did in high school as I didn’t have time and that was extremely hard as I had grown up I my dance studio.

Although I started working out for about an hour six days a week so I didn’t totally give up dance. I didn’t think I would be the kind of person who would actually like working out.. but I do! I dance some days and other days I do cardio and it’s a great stress reliever. Next, I’m kind of smart? Throughout high school I didn't really see myself as smart, I took all AP classes and graduated with honors but I didn’t really see it.

However, this year, sure I’m not getting straight A’s but it’s my first year as a chemistry major (which I don’t have much experience in chemistry to begin with). I’m proud of the fact that I’m passing and understanding what I’m doing and I even added a minor to my workload.

Also, I live with my best friend! I love living with her and I learned that we will be forever friends. I also learned how to tune out her 10:30 speed talking about absolutely nothing.

Moving on to some of the bad things, I have anxiety. My second semester my anxiety reared its ugly head and really slowed me down. But I learned to build off of that and try and take that anxiety and use that energy towards whatever I need to get done.

Going off of that, I still am very shy and if you ask me to stand up in front of a class and speak for 10 minutes I won’t be a happy camper. I don’t mind talking to strangers but I hate having to start the conversation. Which is also a bad thing, I need to stop letting friends come to me, I need to start the friendships.

I still procrastinate… a lot. I told myself coming to college I would get my work done in advanced but here we are, one week before finals and I have a pile of work I need to get done. I can get annoyed pretty easily, if I’m in lab and the same person will ask me the same question 20 times I can’t help but get super annoyed, I try not to but it happens.

I’m not as close with some of the people form my hometown as I would like to be, I understand that going to college means going separate ways and making new friends but some of these people have really shaped me into the person I am today.

Lastly, I care about grades too much. Sure I’m starting to see that I am in fact smart but I’m not used to seeing and A on an exam or something coming really easily to me. I guess that’s why the saying is, “If college was easy you wouldn’t need to go!”

But In all seriousness, I love college and I think it’s a great learning experience. Not only education wise but in learning who YOU are and who YOU want to be.