This past year wasn’t exactly all that I had hoped for it to be. Although I love my school, being a freshman in college hundreds of miles away from home was hard. It took time to get used to being surrounded by so many teenagers trying to find their way to adulthood.

While there are many lost in their own way and stumbling towards the right path, there seem to be even more who know exactly what they’re doing and thriving at it. This upcoming semester, I’m hoping to join ranks with those who are succeeding in their plans.

First thing I plan to do is make sure I get the required 7-8 hours of sleep required. HAHAHA. Okay, I won’t get that unrealistic, but I would love to improve my sleep cycle. After spending an entire year getting more or less four hours of sleep, it would be nice to actually wake up in the morning without feeling miserable.

I got so used to sleeping late that it would be 1 a.m. and I would think to myself that I still have the whole night left. With the exception of pre-test days, I hope to get my work done early enough to get some quality snooze time. Maybe this will improve how much I remember in my morning classes as well.

In order to fulfill my first goal, I would really have to make sure I do the “get my work done early” part right. Procrastination is a huge problem and although I know it would be a bit impossible to get completely rid of it, I can definitely bring it under control. I can’t wait to see how much more productive my days can get when I stick to the agenda and get things off my checklist on time.

Apart from academic related things, I’m really looking forward to seeing my friends again and getting to form even more amazing memories with them. I look forward to the nights when we spend the night laughing over things that don’t make sense and share stories from summer while eating a bag of hot Cheetos.

While developing past friendships is great, I’m curious about all the new friends I will make this year. The Oxford campus is much smaller than the campus in Atlanta which is why it is so easy to form such close friendships, especially between the freshmen and sophomores. As much as I will miss my friends who have moved onto the Atlanta campus as upperclassmen, I am also extremely excited to meet the new freshmen and get to know them.

Despite the ups and down of this past year, it played an essential role in developing who I am as a person. I loved it so much and grew so much from it, and I can’t wait to make this new one even better!