It’s November and I will officially be done with my first semester here at Ohio State in precisely three weeks. Crazy, right?!? So much has happened in the past several months, it’s difficult to remember it all. But, here is my attempt to piece it all together. So without further ado, my first semester at OSU:

The latter part of August and all of September is mostly a blur- as I was go-go-go the whole time. From movies on the Oval to rock climbing at the ARC, my time outside of class was jammed packed. I also attempted to attend many club meetings, but I soon realized that I bit off more than I could chew- so I quickly narrowed down my priorities to a total of 1 club: Body Sense. Although it has been quite difficult to regularly attend, I am very glad to know of a place where I am welcome and where I can learn how to love my own body as well as show others how to be body positive. During those two months, I also learned that my classes take more studying than I was used to and I have since struggled to maintain the 83% needed in statistics to move on in the psychology major (but don’t worry I WILL succeed). September was also the month that I attempted to work as an Irish dance instructor at a local church, but after three hours a week of scheduled classes and only having one person show up for three weeks straight, I made the decision to walk away from that job. And although I was promised a pay check of $200, it somehow has not made its way from the dance company to me, so I guess that job wasn’t quite a job at all. Oh and I almost forgot; I left September as a Twitter icon and an occasional walking Wendy’s advertisement when I’m wearing the shirt they generously sent me due to my raging internet popularity.

October started out with a bang when three of my close friends and I went to the Ed Sheehan concert the first week of the month. Ed Sheehan has always been on my Top 5 Favorite Artists Of All Time list and so I fangirled for approximately the entire concert and for quite a few hours after. During the concert, we also had the opportunity to meet James Blunt and if you are to take one thing away from this entire post let it be this: Listen to his song ‘Make Me Better’, you will not regret it. For fall break, my scholars program gave us the opportunity to go to Chicago and I can honestly say it was one of the greatest trips I have gone on in my life. From the seats of Second City Comedy Show, to the balcony of the Chicago Palace Theater, to the galleries of the Art Institute of Chicago, to the exhibits of the Field Museum, I was full on in my element. The humanities are a huge passion of mine and having this amazing experience right off the bat meant a huge deal to me. So, to Ben Fortman and the scholars program at OSU: thank you so much. That month, I also had quite the time decorating my dorm room for Halloween and my friend Anna and I also co-created a Halloween painting masterpiece that is on display in the hallway of the J-Wing in Baker Hall East. Once Halloween passed, I went into full on Christmas mode. I bought tinsel and Christmas lights and bows and transformed my dorm room from spooky to festive in a matter of minutes. This month has also consisted of me leaving campus to go to dance three to four times a week as regionals is this coming Friday!!! Although I am a literal shaking ball of nerves at the moment, I am SO ready to compete as it signifies the end of my suffering (just kidding, maybe). I also had the chance to go to the Columbus Zoo for their annual Wildlights and man was it breathtaking. I have always been a sucker for Christmas lights and animals, so it was Heaven to me.

And now to the part where I talk about the life lessons college has taught me and everything I’ve learned in the past three-ish months. So first of all, I learned that the universe is expanding and that the Milky Way is set to collide with the Andromeda Galaxy within the next 8 billion years, so that’s a bit scary. And mind-blowing. And it kind of makes me nauseous thinking about it. I also learned how to calculate a confidence interval for a set of data, which is so exciting, I know. I was also taught how to use a camera and I gained knowledge about so many interesting and inspiring photographers that I will look up to for life. I am slowly but surly becoming the person that I aspire to be and I would like to say I am proud of myself for that. After years of learning common core, I am so happy to be in classes that I love and learning things that interest me. So, in that aspect I love college. But while I have been here, I have also had some very low points that I never saw coming. I have seen people I called my friends at the beginning treat me as though I don’t exist. I have overheard them talking about me and have seen them look at me with faces of dislike. I came to college thinking that everyone would be totally matured, but I have now realized that some people are stuck in the drama creating world that is High School. Due to a disagreement, I was officially removed from the friend group I was a part of and left with a single friend in my dorm that I could confide in. I have also been made to feel as if it was my fault and for a while I believed it. I have come to realize, though, that to be able to move past these feelings of worthlessness that were thrust upon me, I need forgive and also take responsibility of my actions as well. Yet after an lengthy and courageous apology of mine, most days are still full of loneliness and isolation. But after all, it is just the first semester and there are 50,000 other people on campus I have yet to meet. This issue will not define me nor leave me defeated. So here’s to the next seven semesters at The Ohio State University.

So now I’ll stop being dramatic and end with my goals for next semester. I hope to achieve a point where I feel at home in my own room, as well as find a group on campus other than my scholars program to become a part of. I also want to average a 90% on every exam that I take. One last goal is not school related, but dance related: I want to recall at the World Irish Dance Championships, in other words I want to place in the top fifty. Although all of my goals are achievable, it will be one hell of a semester spent studying, practicing, and putting myself out there. But when I am determined, I find a way to succeed and I will stop at nothing to get there. So, if you made it all the way here, thank you. My life sure is not what I expected, but I am learning to trust the process crafted by my God above. So to end with the wise words of Matthew 19:26: “With God, all things are possible.”

Edit: As I walked into the Psychology building today, I was reminded of the time in September  when I was given a psychology student spotlight (i.e. student of the month). Facts about me and my picture now circulate on the news screen in the psych building as well as online and I am very humbled to have been chosen within such a short time of being at OSU.