I am from the east side of Cleveland, as you know both sides of town are substantially different. I am from adventuring in every park, taking night walks with my aunts, never really eating Christmas meals, watching every scary movie in the Euclid Public Library, falling asleep to distant train sounds, and watching the most wonderful sunsets. I have the fondest memories of late night polka dances with my grandma and making enough crafts for a lifetime. I remember building a cardboard robot in my garage with the girl who lived down the street; from that point on I always took screws from supermarket floors. I went to school in a haunted castle on the side of a cliff. I remember the coldest days in plaid skirts and friends jumping into the river in school uniforms when it got very hot. Every Friday (or Saturday) I performed with our brother school’s marching band; to this day I have never dropped my flag in a performance. I remember carpooling with friends and screaming to the radio; most of my money at this time was spent on Speedway slushies. My favorite memories include dancing the night away with my friends, driving to Disney with the entire band, and being asked to prom by someone who now lives in the Rocky Mountains. I have so much still to learn about who I am but if you’re really dying to know, I’d ask my friend in the mountains. He has a pretty good idea.

My first week at OSU was pretty eventful. It consisted of lots of firsts: meeting my roommate Kourtney, having to actually jump out of bed every morning, knowing my way around campus, and meeting too many people to keep track of. Things still feel very new to me, though I am slowly getting used to walking far for everything. I was very upset to leave everything behind and start all over but things have been on the up and up ever since move-in day. Showering isn’t even that bad! I expected things to be a lot more weird and stressful than they actually are and I can’t wait to start to get into the swing of things. While I have met a lot of new people, I have gotten closer to some people that I knew from high school, but never really got close to. I was generally most scared that I wouldn’t make any friends yet after the Humanities retreat and the activity fair I realized that not making friends would be near impossible. To be quite frank, I have no expectations going forward. I have hope, but having expectations is something the movie Dodgeball warned me about.

[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 includes both a description of the artifact and a reflection on why it is important to you, what you learned, and what it means for your next steps.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]