Dear Sweet Little Freshman-Year Victoria,
Graduation has always been the end goal. It is always the big thing looming in the background of every day spent here on campus, every memory made here. With each passing year, it becomes a larger and larger reality. You realize all of the things that you haven’t done yet, all of the places you haven’t visited yet, all of the people you haven’t met yet. Now that it’s less than a month away, those sudden moments of realization are hitting almost every day.
But, my dear freshman self, don’t worry about what you may be thinking at my current stage of life. Only worry about yourself, right now. Your present-day self.
Freshman year is such a specific time in every college student’s life. Sophomore, junior, senior year, they all blend together. I have trouble differentiating them.
But freshman year, freshman year stands alone.
No matter how hard you try to make it seem normal, it is not normal and it will never be normal. It’s weird. All of a sudden you’re surrounded by a whole bunch of strangers and you’re sharing a bathroom with one of them and there’s just so many people out all the time and you’re taking classes that move so quickly and there’s also just so many classes to choose from. It’s overwhelming.
But, once you stick it out and it does become your new normal for the time being, it is a wonderful time to be alive.
The sheer amount of pure opportunity is so hard to grasp, you realize it after it has passed you by. You can learn about anything your heart desires, even if you don’t even know that your heart does desire it. You can join clubs that will offer you even more opportunity. You can change your major three times and still want to learn more (spoiler: this does indeed happen. Statistics is a great one, though).
And the people are going to be some of the most amazing people you have ever met. They are going to be so interesting and funny and smart that it’s intimidating. But they are thinking the same of you, so just talk to them anyway. You never know how this one person can change your life.
My one piece of advice is to just say yes. Hang out with these strangers you meet, go to events that seem even a little interesting, join those random clubs that entice you, take German 101 for one semester just because you want to learn a new language and now you know how to ask for the bathroom in German, a skill not everyone can say they have.
The world is truly your oyster, and, statistically speaking, the odds of you having a great time are much greater if you keep your mind open and curious and present. Trust me, I have a degree in statistics (in a month).
With much love and only some jealousy,
Senior-Year Victoria
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