Before going to college, I was afraid of not having enough time. This was in spite of taking a full schedule at Miami last year, and having plenty of time. Again, I feel like I have enough time to do what I want. I can exercise, I can go to clubs, and I sleep plenty. Not to mention, I turn in homework on time, study, etc.

I was also worried about food. To me, the situation is definitely not ideal. To me, it’s important to be vegan. The dining halls are better in some aspects than I expected and worse in others. There are vegan options and so far I haven’t been tempted to try any non-vegan items. On the other hand, often I go to the salad bar and there’s egg in the tomatoes and bacon in the chickpeas. I’m looking forward to living off campus and having a kitchen off my own.

My skepticism toward Humanities Scholars hasn’t really dissipated. So far, my favorite activity has been planting trees in the park. That was a really good opportunity to socialize, and I liked getting my hands in the dirt. The next day, I was sore from digging holes, but it was worth it. I’d definitely look forward to doing more service projects. On the other hand, I can’t say I really feel connected to Humanities Scholars. I might just need more time to make friends. One thing I’m excited for is the Fall Book Club. I love Margaret Atwood, so I’m looking forward to discussing The Handmaid’s Tale.

“At some point someone told me that it looked like I was flirting and I had a panic attack as I thought through previous events.”

Allie is a senior Linguistics student.

When she was a freshman, she tried at first to be very outgoing. She met two classmates she thought were nice, who for the purposes of this story we’ll call Cute and Brother. One day, as they walked back from class, Cute suggested Panera for breakfast. Allie agreed to go, but Brother wanted to save money and eat at K Comm.

Allie and Cute started walking to Panera, but then she remembered her parents were visting! They met her at Panera, but her friend felt awkward, and said he wished Brother were there. She agreed–having Cute meet her parents alone was more awkward than having another friend to space it out.

Later, she suggested that they watch a movie together. Cute left, and Brother acted awkwardly before following him. After that, Brother avoided her.

After a while, someone told her that everyone thought she had been flirting with Brother. To Cute, it seemed like she wanted Brother to be there to meet her parents, not to make it less awkward for Cute. They also thought that she had been trying to watch a movie alone with Brother, though she had intended to hang out with both of them.

To this day, Allie thinks Brother is afraid that she like-likes him.

Before I came to OSU, I was nervous about having a roommate but hoping to make a friend. Now, I don’t have a roommate.

There are a lot of ways the OSU didn’t quite meet my expectations or exceeded them.

My brother took me to Thompson Library during Little Sibling’s Weekend a few years ago and I remember feeling like I could look at it forever. He warned me that it got full very quickly, so I should find somewhere else to study if possible. Yet, I enjoy studying early in the morning and on Friday nights, when very few other people are there, and I can claim whatever place I would like to.

I also appreciate the freedom that living in a city and on campus provides. I can walk to class, go to a club meeting, get dinner, and then walk to the library, all without disturbing my parents or asking for a lift. A couple times, I’ve just walked circles around the block. I’m not used to having a sidewalk, so even that seems like a luxury.

The lack of privacy in the bathrooms here bothers me, especially in a co-ed dorm. There isn’t enough space to take clothing into the bathroom to change. Of course walking there in a towel or robe is an option, but it’s weird. I thought we’d have bathrooms that had a sink, toilet, and shower in one unit and locked, like Bradley.

Something I’m not worried about is my grades. At the beginning of my classes, we went over the syllabi and I was initially nervous about how involved my psychology class was. I’m used to papers and tests, but actually being a subject in a psychological experiment seemed daunting. Now that I know how much free time I really have, I’m grateful for the opportunity to see it from that perspective instead of just doing readings. I also was nervous about phonetics in Linguistics 2000. I got help from an upperclassman on the consonants and she directed me to even more resources, and now I feel pretty confident that I can do that with anything in the class.

I’m hoping I can do reading for pleasure still, but I’ve heard that most college students don’t even if they plan to. I was able to keep doing it when I had a full schedule at Miami last year, but I didn’t do many extra-curricular activities. Right now I’m reading War and Peace, and I’d like to finish it before Christmas.

[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.]