Let me just start off my blog by saying that I am
extremely jealous of all of you. I wish I was in your shoes...picking out new
bed spreads, creating my first semester schedule, and experiencing move-in day
for the first time. Freshman year was the best year of my life. And even though
I’m only going to be a sophomore, I am convinced it’s the best year of college
simply because you have the freedom to explore. At first, this freedom can be
quite overwhelming because high school makes many decisions for you. However,
college takes that whole mentality and flips it upside down. Suddenly, you are
on your own and you call all the shots. You can literally be whoever you want.
This realization didn’t hit me until about the second week of classes, and then
it came crashing down on me like a ton of bricks. Suddenly, I was asking
questions such as: What in the world am I doing with my life? Why did I decide
to be an engineer again? What do I want to spend my free-time doing? Who do I
want my friends to be? Do I actually like lasagna or did I just eat it my whole
life because my mom forced me to? The initial shock was followed by a few
stress-induced tears, but I made a commitment to myself to embrace freshman
year. I decided I didn’t need to know all the answers my second week of school,
but I would take my freshman year to explore...explore Penn State and explore
myself.
Last summer, as a high school graduate, I never could
have predicted the outcome of my freshman year in college, but it was ten times
better than I imagined. So here is my advice to you incoming freshman:
- Don’t judge anything before you try it. I found that things I thought would be perfect for me ended up being duds and the things I was skeptical about ended up being some of the most memorable experiences of my life. This includes people as well. High school is full of stereotypes, but make it your goal in college to drop the stereotypes and be friends with all different types of people. Diversity is the spice of life!
- Don’t get discouraged. Moving away from home is hard, meeting new people is hard, physics is HARD! But don’t give up :) Keep everything in perspective and remember your end goal. It is easy to throw in the towel when you’re studying into the late hours of the night for your Physics 211 final. If it was easy then everyone would do it. And why would you want to be like everyone else?
- Stay healthy physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and socially. Basically, make sure you are a well-rounded individual. If you stay in the library for days on end without coming up for air, you won’t be happy. Similarly, if you spend all day sleeping and chilling in East Commons, you will fail out of Penn State (also an unhappy situation). Make sure you are staying active, sleeping, eating healthy, taking time to relax, and investing in relationships. In addition, don’t give up things that “make you you.” If church was a big part of your life at home, investigate the different student fellowship opportunities on-campus and in the state college area. If you live for Tuesday night Pretty Little Liar sessions like I do, make sure you take time out of your day for that.
Penn State is an amazing place, and I truly believe there
is a niche here for everyone. Make the most of every opportunity presented to
you and remember to your embrace freshman year. See you all in 3 weeks! Wooooo!
Kelly Gagnon is a sophomore in Industrial Engineering and a Rover for WEPO'13. To read more about Kelly visit her WEPO Profile: http://raindancer45.wix.com/ladyengineers#!kelly-gagnon/c1836
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