My First Semester at OSU

            Coming to Ohio State, I knew no one and my family was not anywhere relatively close. I feared being extremely homesick, ending the first semester with a terrible GPA, making no friends, and regretting the choice I made to come to OSU. I was very homesick in the beginning, and I experienced a great deal of stress because of it. As the months went on, the homesickness decreased. My fear of ending the first semester with a terrible GPA somewhat remains as finals quickly approach. I do not expect it to be very low, but I do not think it will be as good as I hoped. The fear of making new friends is gone. It lasted about two weeks and disappeared as I met my three best friends on campus. We have made so many fun memories in such a short amount of time and surprisingly, we all became close very fast. The fear of regretting the choice I made to come to OSU is something that only existed in my mind before I arrived. I do not regret coming here as it has allowed me to see life away from home, build new relationships, and experience college in an amazing way. My experience in Humanities Scholars has been great considering it brought me to my friends. Living in Baker with them just across the hall is interesting, to say the least. Not only did Humanities lead me to my friends, I have been able to go to Chicago for the first time in my life, attend cultural festivals, be artistic, and has allowed me to be a part of the Honors & Scholars Programming Board’s Service Committee. I was also able to be in the coolest mentor group and the time we spent together was really fun! Moving forward, I am sad to say that I will most likely be transferring out of Ohio State for the Spring semester but I am really glad that I was able to be a Humanities Manatee for one semester and participate in the engaging events that were put on.

As a little girl, Anna ruled the household as the older sister of two brothers. She was a huge dreamer and never was told the word “no” by her parents. Surrounded by a very loving immediate family, Anna went throughout her middle school years. She had not known it then, but confidence was something that was never taught to her. She would have to come to find it as she was well into her college years. In the seventh-grade health classroom, Anna was learning about eating disorders. After that point, she started to question her own body and dislike the way she looked. For years, Anna struggled with an eating disorder in silence. Her mother’s side taught her to mask her problems and to show the world that she was not hurting inside. It was not until Anna attended a small Christian group at her school that she would reach out for help. Hearing Psalm number forty from the Bible, which begins “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of mud and mire, he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand”, inspired her to change her eating habits. Anna is still learning to love herself more and more each and every day. Overcoming an eating disorder ultimately made Anna a stronger person and stronger in her faith.

My First Week at OSU

            Coming into Ohio State, I was so excited to be going to one of the largest universities in the country, in an unfamiliar place with so many new faces. I was most scared about my classes and receiving good grades. I initially was coming into this semester with sixteen credit hours and after the first two days of classes, I immediately felt overwhelmed and ended up dropping a course. That led me to feel some relief and I am satisfied with my decision because I do not want this year to be solely about schoolwork, but about getting involved as well through Scholars, clubs, and sports. The first week was honestly very difficult for me. I never expected to be so homesick. Move-in day felt so surreal and I felt so excited for the year ahead, but as soon as my parents left, I felt lonely despite being surrounded by so many people. Even though I am involved in numerous extracurricular activities my first week in, I worry about developing close friendships even though I know I shouldn’t! I also feel scared about the pressure I put onto myself. In high school, I put way too much pressure onto myself and I told myself I was going to work on that as well as test anxiety in college and try to relax. I have a math quiz tomorrow and I am already feeling anxious. On a brighter note, I am really excited for the football season and I feel really lucky to have gotten the full season package sitting in Block O South. My family is coming to the OSU vs. UNLV game in about three weeks and I can’t wait to see them all. Aside from football, I am super pumped to play in club field hockey tournaments at home and to travel away with my team to Maryland for a weekend. Field hockey is my favorite way to release stress and to clear my mind. I expect my OSU experience to get better from here because I know being here is a once in a lifetime opportunity. As for Humanities Scholars, I not only expect but know that the program is going to be a ton of fun and an amazing family to be a part of.

[Artifacts are the items you consider to be representative of your academic interests and achievements. For each entry, include both an artifact and a detailed annotation.  An annotation is a reflective description of the artifact that attempts to communicate its significance.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]