Sophomore year has been a stressful blur so far. I’ve only been in school for 3 weeks, but it feels like it’s been a full semester. Once short term ended last May and summer began, I felt extremely optimistic about continuing my years at Bates. I was particularly excited about sophomore year, and here’s why: I would soon be able to declare my major, I would be reunited with my loved ones at school, I would continue begging a bomb education, and I would have more academic opportunities and extracurricular options, like study abroad, at my disposal.

Before my freshman year ended, I had applied to be a Junior Advisor, a position similar to your average RA (ie. I live with freshman and advise them and stuff), and I got the position. This meant that I had to come back to school before the rest of the campus did for training. I arrived about two weeks before the rest of the campus showed up, other than the first years, and once everyone else came, so did the first day of school, and I was not in any way ready. With my head still in “summer-happy-fun-time-mode,” I barely did any homework that first weekend once school started, and I started to fall behind during the second week of school, which was super shocking to me.

I am only taking four classes this semester, but since the start of classes, each subject has already given me a few essays, hundreds of pages of readings and numerous projects to complete. I have a relatively easy schedule this semester: all 9:30 classes, one class on Tuesday and no class on Friday. However, if any of you know me, I love to keep myself busy.

I am a girl of many interests and passions. Last year, I participated in numerous clubs, I was an athlete on the Track and Field team, and I worked at a local elementary school twice a week. This year, I’ve stepped it up a few notches: I am a Junior Advisor (a paid position), I joined an acapella group, and I am volunteering at a tutoring program for 9th graders twice a week. This means that that “free time” I have during the week, I'm either doing homework, practicing for acapella, volunteering at the local school, or napping out of exhaustion. Yes, I know I’m overworked, but everyone needs to have an outlet where they can express themselves physically, artistically or mentally, right? That’s what all college students are encouraged to do, so that’s what I did.

In times of feeling overwhelmed, I tend to reflect, and I remember as a freshman, many people told me “Oh, you have time to figure out your major! Don’t worry!” or “Just take a bunch of fun classes and figure out your general requirements later!” This is a lie. Obviously, freshman year is a time for students to explore their interests and to give themselves time to adjust and adapt; however, if a freshman leaves all of their general requirements to later years and still does not know what they want to major in by sophomore year, that is a serious problem. Luckily, last year, I made sure to get as many GEs out of the way, and tried to focus on what I knew I wanted to major in (Psychology, most likely), however, now, as a sophomore, I am left dangling in the sense that that I have a year of Bates under my belt, so most would assume that I have a better understanding of what will become of my life, which isn’t true at all.

Sure, I have hopes and dreams about what I wish to pursue, there is that small matter of getting there. I may be a sophomore, but believe it or not, I’m still adjusting to college life! In my unique situation as a Junior Advisor, I have to care for the 10 first years on my floor, tend to their questions and help them get acclimated to Bates, while at the same time, I have to balance work, friends, my significant other and give myself time alone when I can.

Another struggle of this year so far as been keeping up with my best friends outside of Bates. Last year, we skyped every week in order to catch up properly and sustain our friendship, which was really effective; however, this year, the school year has hit us hard, and we’ve barely been able to breathe let alone communicate with one another. When we do talk, we talk for hours, chattering through skype or on the phone and catch up. It’s exciting to see where each of their passions lie and to see how they juxtapose from mine. In this second year of college, we inch closer and closer to our degrees, which is both magical and terrifying all at once. I know our friendships won’t falter, but it’s saddening to lose touch with the ones you care about until you see one another again, which is usually over winter break or even summer.

Honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect from this year before coming back to Bates; I just knew that I was excited and eager to come back to school. Although sophomore year has been stressful so far with quite a few late nights, dozens of cups of coffee, piles of work and an increasing amount of learned responsibility, I am still so happy and blessed to be at college at all. I love sleeping more than anything in the world, but I’ll continue to pull all-nighters if it means I will get my degree!