Freshman Year in Review

This year has been one of the best years of my life. I have lived this year differently than other years. First of all, coming to college has been a large change due to the fact that I have not lived in my house for an entire year (except for breaks). I was nervous at first due to the fact that I would be responsible for all of my school work and everything else. Another change is that I am not doing any regular season sports like I used to do every single year before now. It has been relaxing not having such a tight schedule but I also miss having the comradery that exists in sports. However, it has been nice because I can just go out and play soccer for fun with a bunch of friends any time I want and there is no pressure to win or lose because it is all for fun. Another change I had was not having the community that existed in my high school. Luckily, a friend of mine that is a school year ahead of me and went to my high school texted me about a fraternity he had joined. Coming into college, I had decided without even looking into it that I would not have time to join a fraternity due to the fact that I am majoring in engineering. However, I decided to go to some events and check it out. Immediately I felt a connection to the organization and all of the guys were great and well-mannered men. All of the stereotypes that I associated with fraternities were blown when I went to more and more events. Phi Kappa Tau is the name of the fraternity, and they are a bit smaller than most fraternities, but I enjoyed spending time with all of the guys and ended up joining. Joining Phi Kappa Tau was one of the best decisions that I made this year. Some changes I have made in spite of these changes mostly involve my study habits. Back home, I would generally go to my room and do my homework there, sometimes going to the library when I had a lot to get done. However, this year I have a lot more distractions in my room and therefore I cannot get that much done, and therefore I normally go to the library almost everyday to get my homework done. Some changes I would like to make is to be more organized. I tend to be a bit messy, which causes me to delegate a day of the week to clean. If I was more organized, however, then I would have a clean room all of the time and not have to spend a couple hours a week cleaning. This year I have been blessed to meet such amazing friends that have similar goals to me. In the very beginning of the year I became friends with one of my engineering partners that lives in Morrill Tower as well, just twelve floors above me. Through him I became friends with many people from his floor and I am on floor twenty-two so often that his RA almost made me a door decoration with my name on it. I am so appreciative of the experiences I have had and the people I was with during these experiences. Another thing that I am thankful for that might sound strange is to have lived in Morrill Tower. Although it is generally disliked compared to other dorms, but I think the community and the setup of Morrill is fantastic, and perfect for Freshman. Also, since Morrill is so far away from most things, I can walk anywhere on campus and it does not feel that far. Besides doing community service, I believe that I have been giving back by being a positive person and bringing positivity to everyone around. This might not seem like much, but I truly try to see the bright side to everyone and try to not let things bring me down. Scholars Earth Month opened my eyes to how easy it is to make a difference in order to help the world. I would say that the choices I made were not particularly meaningful to me, but they were chosen because of how easy they can be done. Such as opening the shades during the day instead of turning on the lights and taking the stairs to conserve energy. Both were very easy to do, and taking the stairs ended up being great exercise.

 

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Before going to college, I signed up to go on a OAC trip to Hocking Hills. The trip ended up being an amazing experience. We did numerous bonding activities to get to know each other, and I made many friends before even coming to college. This picture was taken on a trail in Hocking Hills (I forget which one), but I just really like this picture due to the fact that I think it enraptures my excitement and attitude towards the trip and beginning my journey at OSU.

 

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This picture was taken in the first week of school, when we did the minute to win it challenges as an ice breaker to meet fellow ENR scholars students. The challenge that I did involved using a raw spaghetti noodle in your mouth to pick up raw penne pasta noodles. In order to win, someone had to pick up the most noodles, and I couldn’t believe that I was able to pick up all five. These activities were very fun and I am very appreciative that it was such a beautiful day.

 

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During football season, I had season home tickets in the Block O North student section, which was so much fun. I am so glad that I bought these tickets because it was so much fun to be apart of the cheers. Going to the football games was the best part of every weekend in the fall, it was just amazing to be in the stadium, which was always packed, and see the Buckeyes play. Before this year, I had never been to a Buckeye football game, and I have definitely been missing out. However, I still have three or four more seasons to buy tickets and enjoy seeing the Buckeyes beat Michigan!

 

 

 

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This picture was taken a few weeks ago when it turned out to be a really nice day outside on a Friday. The journey started at the OAC and two friends and I rented a canoe and walked from the OAC to the Olentangy river. From the banks beside Morrill Tower we began our journey down the river on a clear day, absolutely no clouds to be seen. It was such a great time. We saw numerous turtles laying on the bank of the river, some sliding in for a swim. For about an hour the journey was relaxing and since the current was so strong, we mostly just had to use the paddles to keep the canoe straight. Further down the river, however, rapids began to develop between some bridges, which wasn’t too hard to maneuver in, but it made us a bit nervous. When we finally thought all of the rapids were over, however, we saw a sign down river. The sign was too small to read at first, and it was posted in the middle of the river, which we thought was odd. When we got closer, we could read DANGER, but still couldn’t see the rest of the sign. Once we were close enough to read the sign, it read DANGER: DAM AHEAD, TAKE OUTLET NOW, and had an arrow to the left. The sign was very poorly placed due to the fact that it was AT the danger, and gave little time to take action. We hurriedly paddled to reach the shore on the left, and due to our turning the canoe was now sideways and we had reached rapids. The rapids made the canoe flip since it was sideways, which sent us out of it. Luckily, we all made it to shore without any major injuries, which may not have been the case if we flipped any later and got trapped in the heavy rapids and sharp concrete that was around that area. However, when we got to shore, we saw our canoe floating down the river without us. We went up and crossed the street in order to meet the canoe further downstream, and ended up in the middle of downtown by the time we actually caught up to it and pulled it ashore. Due to the happy ending and the fact that no one was hurt in the rapids, I love this story and will remember it for the rest of my life.

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I went to the spring game with some of my fraternity brothers, and it was so exciting to have football in my life again, even if it was for just a few hours. It is great to know that I have found such a wonderful community here at OSU filled with so many friends who I know I can count on, and have great memories with now and in the future. I truly value and appreciate my time here at OSU and cannot wait for next semester to begin.