Reflecting on this past semester, it has been a very interesting and eye opening few months. Regarding this past week, Monday was an absolute shock and I would have never thought it would happen at my school. I’m relieved none of the victims sustained any life threatening injuries, and I am touched and feel so fortunate because of all of the calls, texts, snapchats, and other such things I received from family and friends. Today (Tuesday, November 29th) feels like it’s pretty much back to normal and life will continue as such. Overall, I would say this was the biggest shock of this semester and will be something I never forget. Digressing, the semester in its entirety was full of both fun and stressful times. I have made some new friends and keep in touch with old ones who attend OSU and elsewhere. I would say that was one of my biggest fears and it still is. I really wanted to meet some new people that share my interests, and I have found a few. Not as many as I had hoped, but I am working on it and I feel I will gain more friends in the coming semester and semesters to follow. Furthermore, I told myself that I would join clubs and get involved. In the beginning, I made an effort to get involved; but I gave up and did not follow through with being as involved as I wanted. Next semester, I am going to try a lot harder and I will make it my goal to at least join one or two organizations. Digressing, another big fear I had was the situation with my roommate. It was very awkward at first and it stressed me out to a point where it was unhealthy. However, I spoke up and stated how I wanted some sort of a dialogue between us. After that, things improved and we have a nice coexisting relationship. In general, dorm life has improved. I absolutely hated it at first and I contemplated dropping out because I hated my living situation so much; but after calming down and talking myself through it I established a perspective of my fortunes in life. I was paying my dues, and this was no where near the worst thing in the world. I appreciate where I am in life and I realize how I need to take advantage of the opportunities placed before me to grow as a person. The biggest challenge of this semester has been calculus. It is extremely time consuming and just a difficult course. I did not do as well as I wanted on the first midterm because I made a lot of dumb mistakes. Then, I completely failed the second midterm because it was so difficult. This Thursday, I am taking my final midterm for calculus and I am hoping for a better grade. I have put a significant amount of time into the studying and homework for calculus, and I am not going to fail because I put so much effort and time into it. My goal is to get a B in the class, and I will try my hardest these next couple of weeks to obtain this grade. If I fall short, then at least I passed. We’ll just have to see how these next couple of weeks play out, but I am hopeful for the best. In regards to the Humanities Scholars, the program has been worthwhile. I think it has motivated me to be more involved on campus and has introduced me to several programs/organizations I would have never known of. Again, I was not as involved as I probably should have; but I will try to be more involved and expose myself to more of what the program has to offer in the future. This has been a stressful and fun semester, and I am happy where I am. Sometimes I doubt if I am in the right place and wonder if I would be happier elsewhere, but I always bounce back and remember that happiness is a mindset. It’s not where you are, it’s how you make the best of where you are. I intend to do just that, and thus I am optimistic looking towards my future as an Ohio State Buckeye.