The Spice of Life…

Where does the time go? I cannot believe that I am registering for my last semester of college. It seems like only months ago I arrived on the college scene, overwhelmed and unsure of myself. It seems like only months ago, yet somehow at the same time it feels like an entire lifetime has passed. Just the same, I am coming to a close on this chapter of my life, and because of this it seems as if I have been reflecting more and more on my past.
I would say that if I could change anything about the four years I have been in college, I would change my entire freshman year. I absolutely loved my sophomore and junior years, and I am currently enjoying my senior year. However, freshman year was a completely different story.
I think the first mistake I made as a freshman was hesitating to get involved on campus. Instead of reaching out to new people and finding my niche in an organization or club, I pulled away from new faces and receded to the solitude of my dorm room. I attended two different colleges my freshman year. I attempted to run from my unhappiness at one school to a completely new atmosphere. I later learned that a school alone cannot make or break your happiness; happiness is the sort of thing that comes from within and travels with you wherever you are.
Another mistake I made as a freshman was to go home every weekend. I think I stayed on campus two weekends out of my entire freshman year. Not only did that require a great deal of driving, but it also meant that I was treating college life like it was a camp. I would go to class and live at school during the week, but as soon as Friday afternoon rolled around, I was packing up my car to go back home. By going home every weekend, I was missing out on the opportunity to bond with the people I was around during the week, but didn’t really know below the surface. Weekends on campus can be a lot of fun, even if there isn’t a lot to do in the area. Staying at school on weekends is a great way to get better adjusted to living away from home. Weekends allow students to enjoy the fellowship of living in a community full of college students.
If I could go back in time, I would have lived more freely my freshman year. I was always afraid to try something new because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be good at it. I would have gotten to know people better and steered away from only getting to know people as acquaintances. I would have done something as simple as leaving the door to my dorm room open more often, so I could get to know more people in my residence hall.
I know that people say that they wouldn’t change anything about their past because every decision they have made, whether good or bad, has molded them into the person they are now. I suppose I agree. There is definitely a part of me that regrets not living my freshman year to its fullest potential, but then again I learned a lot that year, too. I learned who I was and who I didn’t want to be. I learned that I wanted to live a life filled to the brim with passion and inspiration, rather than always staying within my safety net.
So, as the last semester of my college career approaches, I can look back on this chapter of my life as a time of major emotional, spiritual and mental growth. I hope that as you look back on your college experience you have more good memories than regrets. Don’t let any inhibitions hold you back from living your college years to their fullest potential, because you can never re-live these years.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 24 2003. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry