For me, 2017 was a whirlwind of a year. After finishing all my college applications, graduating high school and a stressful vacation to Europe, the most exciting point of my 2017 came halfway through the year with my arrival on campus.
Since the beginning, I have loved my experience at Brandeis. I loved all my classes, even my unfortunate 9 a.m. classes. I loved all my professors, but I especially loved all the friends I made collectively complaining about our professors and expressing our lack of understanding for their lectures. I loved desperately looking for someone to get food with just so I would not be alone in the dining hall. I loved staying up late in the lounge with my friends, and instantly getting quiet when we thought our CA would come yell at us.
This first semester of college has taught me quite a bit:
1. Orientation is low-key the best
There is only one word that I could can use to describe to my orientation experience: overwhelming. For me, the highlight of orientation occurred during This Is Our House with Jamele Adams, when Brandeis sticks 900 freshman, most of whom are living away from home for the first time, and almost 100 overly-enthusiastic Orientation Leaders in a theater together. Being the only person from my town, I knew if I did not force myself to be social, I would struggle to make friends. Luckily for me, I found a few of my closest friends in my orientation group. I have come to realize that everyone is freaked out about orientation. None of us really knew what was going on, but we went with the flow and were rewarded with great friendships.
2. You don’t actually know anything about your future
We call ourselves a research university, but let’s be real here, we are a liberal arts school at heart, and the university’s general education distribution requirements force us to explore new interests. Before coming to campus, I was dead set on the exact things I wanted to accomplish during my undergraduate career. I thought I knew exactly which majors/minors, clubs and extracurriculars I would choose. Man, was I wrong. Experiences in my classes and clubs and conversations with individual professors have led me to doubt, change and rethink my educational aspirations countless times. This allowed me to flesh out my interests and discover new passions that I would never have discovered at a different school.
3. Step out of your comfort zone
Ask anyone I know: I hate social interactions. But probably one of the best things about college has been that it forced me to put myself out there. Being the first person from my town coming to Brandeis caused a lot of stress for me. After coming to Brandeis and attending the activities fair, I was extremely overwhelmed and socially pressured into joining way too many listervs. I did not know what to expect so all I could do was sign up for clubs upon clubs in almost every speciality. At that time, I did not yet realize what I found interesting or what impact I wanted to make on campus. By putting myself out there, I was able to connect with different groups of people.
4. Appreciate your roommate more
I’d never had a roommate until I got to college and to be honest, I felt awkward for the first few weeks living with another person. But you live and learn through your mistakes. It was not until I went home, alone in a bedroom for the first time in months, that I realized how great it actually was to have a roommate. Knowing there is someone there every night to hang out with when you don’t feel like going to bed so soon, jamming out to some music or gossiping about the drama of the day gives me a feeling of safety and security.
My college experience so far has been extremely fulfilling and brimming with unexpected twists and turns. But my biggest takeaway is that you should take everything one day at a time. As my high school tennis coach would say, it is not about where you get in the end, but how you get there.