There isn’t much that separates a senior in high school from a freshman in college. With only two months of summer sandwiched in between, it is not likely that you will experience a butterfly-like transformation, in which you effortlessly become a mature and self-sufficient adult just in time for the first day of college.
Although some may attribute these qualities to the ideal college student, they cannot be attained simply because you have been given a college ID and a class schedule. I discovered that a transformation like this is a work in progress, and that the person I was as a high school senior, is not far off from who I am today — nearly halfway done with my first year of college.
In high school, we were told repeatedly that college was the only time we would get a “start over” button. At first, this thought was comforting. It was a chance to finally discard that persistent nickname, or to do something out of character without being judged. The way I saw it, I was given an opportunity to reshape the person I was, meet new people, and explore different interests.
I soon realized, however, that starting over isn’t as easy as it appeared. I still had the same talents and the same flaws. I still had the same study habits, and I gravitated towards the clubs and classes I pursued before. I even caught myself comparing the new friends I made to the ones I had at home. Shifting into a new group of friends was one of the hardest adjustments I had to make, and it is one that I did not realize I struggled with until much later into the semester.
At first, making friends during the first couple of weeks wasn’t as daunting as I thought it would be. Everyone was as eager to connect and talk to someone as I was. We were away from our family and friends, slept in foreign beds resembling gymnasium mats, and were still learning the ways of the campus, scrambling from one class to another with schedules in hand. In fear of being alone, we introduced ourselves to one another with an extra dash of enthusiasm and friendliness.