This past year, I have had so many development opportunities and challenges along the way – especially with my second semester. I’ve had to learn to get ready for close friends to move away, to have failed my first ever college exam, to have accepted a work position in another country, and to have taken on a second job, a leadership position, and the most rigorous academic course load to date. This year has turned me upside down and inside out and has been an incredible learning experience.

Working chronologically, my year began relatively easily. I moved in with some of my closest friends and began planning for an opportunity to work abroad. Upon this acceptance, I began my second job. Now as both an intern for a company and a barista at a coffee shop, I was working twice as hard to start saving for my internship in Ireland this coming summer. At the end of my first semester, I was elected into being Marketing Chair for my business fraternity and had also joined a leadership group on campus. My first semester was a whirlwind but I was ready for the next chapter of my life!

Then second semester hit. I was now in 17 credits, working 2 jobs, had a leadership position in one organization and was working on my certification in the other. I was then doing work for my future internship, was completing STEP forms, and was trying to balance my school life with my social life. The first few weeks were terrible. I was incredibly stressed, did not have any order to my life, and felt friendships around me crumbling. This semester is probably the worst semester I have had in college to date. Although I have things balanced now, The first few months were terrible.

This taught me a lot about myself. It taught me how fearful of failure I am and how I am a much more emotional person than I realized. It taught me how to be a leader and how sometimes life requires sacrifice and no one person can do everything. It taught me to ask for help when I need it and to keep the ones I love close. Now that the year is wrapping up, I’ll soon have to say goodbye to some of my closest senior friends who are beginning to start their life journeys. As selfish as it is, I still do not want them to go but I support them in their future endeavors.

This year in review made me realize a lot about myself and about the challenges that life throws at you. The best we can do is to take them with grace and try to become better people from it.