I don’t know about you, but I can safely say that my freshman year of college kicked my ass in both good and bad ways. As an out-of-state student from a small-ish Wisconsin town, moving five hours away was already a huge change.
New friends, new home, new life — it’s safe to say that when they say college is intimidating and stressful as hell, they actually mean it.
Coming to college for the first time and being bombarded with a week’s worth of welcome-week activities was not on my bucket list, and, at least for me, it wasn’t enjoyable in the slightest. As an introvert, socializing with new people all day every day for an entire week sounded like my own personal hell.
But once we got past that and into the actual classes, it was pretty uneventful to say the least. I mean all I did was wake up, go to class, get my work done, and go back to my own personal hobbit-hole.
Everyone says to get involved, make friends, or join clubs, but they don’t tell you how intimidating that can be, especially for introverted first-year students. So it’s safe to say it took me a while but I eventually came around to the idea of being at Millikin, though I did doubt my commitment for a while.
What really changed my mind about this place was not the class-sizes, or programs —it was the Decaturian. I was recruited to join after one of my classes, and when I did I only offered to edit — something easy and relatively low commitment.
That was laughable to say the least because within a few weeks I started writing arts reviews and it all went to hell from there (in a good way). But it’s not only the writing that made it fun, it was the meetings themselves. It really does take just a room full of people you can joke around and laugh with to change your mind about something. And because of a few of those people in that room, I chose to go Greek, something that high school me would rather have died than done.
I mean, you come to college knowing that things will change. For most of us, this is the first time that we’re truly away from our parents. It’s up to us to make our own decisions, to learn how to live on our own and be independent. Not only are you thrown into mostly-difficult coursework and a new environment, but you’re thrown into what I like to say is the “Intro to Adulting.” College is the perfect time for it, where you learn how to be a functioning member of society but still have the support system and opportunities to make mistakes.
But more than that, you’re at one of the prime moments of your life where you truly learn and grow as a person. I mean, in one year I joined a student-run newspaper, upgraded to Arts Editor, joined an Honors Fraternity, rushed a sorority, and spent far too much time yapping at the PMC benches. Not one of those things was what I imagined when I pictured how college would go.
And yet here I am, one year down and three to go, excited for the opportunities that I’ll have here. You really do just have to get through the first semester. They mean it when they say it’s the worst. And yeah, maybe Millikin or even college in general isn’t for everyone, but for those who are bound to succeed here, you’ll know.
My advice, especially for incoming freshmen, is to just give it time. It may suck at first, and it may take a while, but it really does get better. You just have to find your people to help you through it.
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