Thoughts on My First Week of College

Since September 23rd, I have woken up on a top bunk to the beautiful view of the ocean and the peaceful quiet of the morning. Waking up on my own without an alarm clock is one of the best feelings ever. As you know, I recently moved into college, and in these two weeks I have been here, I have experienced a range of emotions- sadness, joy, excitement, panic, and gratefulness. College is different from anything that I have ever experienced. So much has happened in just two weeks that I want to share with you. I don’t know where to begin! I’ll start with move-in day.

Prior to move-in day, I was nervous but mostly excited to start college. I think part of that excitement came from buying clothes and cute decor inspired from Pinterest for my dorm. However, when it came to say goodbye to my family, I started to feel panic surfacing in. My family and I were in my dorm Saturday night. All of us were trying to find the right words to say good bye. The only real way we could express how we truly felt was through our tears. Saying good bye to my family was probably one of the hardest things I have had to do.

After receiving many hugs, my family left and there I was in my dorm trying to stop the tears. I’ve never been away from my family before so the emotions that I felt were a mixture of not knowing what in the world I was going to do without them and a sadness that I wouldn’t be able to see them for a while. I was left in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. Within seconds that I was alone, I heard a soft knock on the door. Thinking that it was my parents, I open it only to find Gen, a girl from my floor. She was so sweet and gave me a hug as we teared up together. Having her there made me feel so much better even though we had never met before.

Since then, I have met so many new people around campus who are genuinely kind and different from me, which is good because I am forced to get out of my comfort zone and learn about new cultures. I absolutely love the people at my school and cannot wait to make more friends. So far, I have gone swimming spontaneously, hiked, taken a surf lesson, went on a late night coffee run, and went to a bonfire. These are things that I may have done were it not for my friends pushing me. One of my favorite things so far about college is being able to eat dinner with good company every night. Shout out to Abi, Shelby, Gen, Chloe, Prasadani, Achol, Joseph, Joe, and Nikhill. You guys are awesome!!

I come from the city, so attending a school that is right next to the water is unreal. From my room and floor, I get a wonderful view of the ocean and sunset, a constant reminder of how blessed I am to be here and how beautiful and complex this world created by God is. The weather here is nice, too. It’s not too cold or hot since we’re at the coast and get the ocean breeze.

The biggest difference between college and high school is the schedule. From elementary to high school, you follow a set bell schedule and then you go home and do homework every weekday. In college, you don’t have the same classes everyday. I got lucky in that my classes are all in the afternoon, and some days I have only one or two classes! I can wake up whenever I want and study or read before class finally starts. In college, there are a lot more readings required compared to homework due. However, you get more time to do it since it isn’t due the next day.

What I have found beneficial is spacing out my work load and organizing my time so that I’m not procrastinating at the deadline. In college, you get more freedom to do what you want, you just need to know how to use your time wisely. Unlike in high school where all I did was study, I have more time to spend with friends and have fun here in college.

At the most random times, I’ll find myself missing my family and friends and the environment where I came from, which is completely normal. I feel like being in a new place and surrounded by different people will only be for the better and help me grow and learn. Thank you for reading this sort of diary entry about my first week of college experience. I did not go in depth to my routine or moving in because I might do a separate post on those things later. I just wanted this post to be a reflection of how I feel about college. To sum it up, I love it. It is so much more fun compared to high school, and I am excited for the next four years here.

love,
blaze ann