reflections from the end of my very first semester of college!
Wow! It is so crazy to think that I have OFFICIALLY survived my first semester of college! Admittedly I struggled a lot this semester, but these struggles are not without their valuable lessons. Here’s 16 lessons from my first 16 weeks of college:
1. Blackout curtains + command hooks = LIFESAVER when your room overlooks the DRC in all its stadium light shining glory.
2. Be a little bit more conservative on swiping for other people at the beginning of the semester. Dining points are in extreme excess, but they are not infinite.
3. Set boundaries and guard your time, but don’t say no to everything. You need sleep, but it’s not the moments spent unconscious in bed that you’ll most fondly remember when you look back at college.
4. You still need to get some sleep though. Seriously.
5. Look up from your phone. That’s how you make friends.
6. Every day when you get back to your room, write a notecard with the names of everyone you met that day and a brief description of them. A little bit of memory goes a long way.
7. Despite what you think, asking questions in class does not make you dumb. It actually makes people think you know what’s going on. And they’re all secretly grateful for your questions.
8. Greek yogurt, honey, granola. The best portable post-practice meal.
9. When taking the metro, sit in a car facing FORWARD. It’s a lot better for your sensitive equilibrium.
10. Your prof is a hard one but it’s ’cause she genuinely wants you to succeed. Go to her office hours and get to know her. She’s a robot in class, but actually a really cool person!
11. Get a lab partner who’s a senior, knows what’s up, and looks out for you. Thank her at the end.
12. Be careful in the two left lanes on the way to DTLA. It’s not an extra wide carpool lane, it’s actually an ExpressLane™ you have to pay for driving through later… (#oops).
13. Try new things. You might discover that you like them (like sushi) or that you’re not half bad at them (like ping pong).
14. Go camping. Sometimes the rest you need is more than just physical. In this case, it restores your soul.
15. Take full advantage of the rain. Open your window to hear it fall at night. Run around and get soaked in it. Lie down in a puddle and let it pelt your face as it lands on you straight down.
16. Call your friends. Music is fun but there is nothing more beautiful, reassuring, and joy-giving than the sounds of their voices on the phone.
… Probably more on this later. Finishing up a semester of college is QUITE a bit to process, so I need time to figure these things out! Also, this is my very first blog post, so please pardon any errors. This was originally going to be an instagram post, but I hit the caption limit… in fact, hitting the caption limit on all of my instagram drafts is kind of the very thing that pushed me toward making a blog. If you’re interested enough in my life that you’re spending your time here… Well, thank you for caring that much about me! I’m off to go figure out more of this whole WordPress business, but I will write again soon! -Marian
The More the Marianer 