My first semester at the Ohio State University has been much better than I was expecting. My family worried that I wouldn’t make any friends because I’m a very shy person, but the Humanities Scholars helped me to easily make friends that live on my floor and are also members. I was much more scared that I would not get along with my roommate or that she would not get along well with me. There was definitely an adjustment period when it came to living in such small spaces with a person I did not know before move in day. However, we soon grew comfortable with each other and are now friends. I was also afraid that I would not be good with my money while here and while I haven’t been great with a budget, I have learned some lessons on how not to spend money unless I really have to or want to. None of the fears that I or my family had when I started college remain, now I’m terrified of the upcoming finals. My experience in Humanities so far has been good. I have meet a lot of people and made some really good friends. The activities have generally been fun and interesting, I only wish that they were timed so that they aren’t so often interfering with when I want to eat dinner.

Guy in a business suit sat next to me on the bus. Has legal pad. Only thing written is muppets. Which is underlined. Caileigh Chadwickn

I, personally, don’t see the purpose of the strengths assignment. It didn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know about myself and the strengths just seem pointless to know. However, my top five strengths are: consistency, developer, harmony, input, and restorative. Consistency means that I generally treat people the same while developer shows that I am able to help develop other people’s talents. The harmony strength means that, basically, I don’t like confrontation, which is true. Input means that I really enjoy learning and the restorative strength tells me that I am adept at dealing with problems. The only strengths I really see playing a role in my academic are input and restorative. Input showing that I will continue to learn as I grow older because I enjoy learning new things and the restorative strength shows that I will deal with any problems that occur throughout my gaining of new knowledge. I suppose I could see consistency and harmony playing a role in my social life. Treating everyone the same through the consistency strength would be something that friends would appreciate. Meanwhile, harmony would mean that I would try very hard to keep the peace between friends so I would help to keep fighting to a minimum. Consistency and restorative strengths would both play a role in my future. Consistency would be good for when I eventually get a job, my employers and coworkers will appreciate the fact that I can and will treat all of them the same. The restorative strength will also be helpful for when I get a job as I will be good at dealing with problems that can arise in the workforce. I don’t really see any of my strengths working together except for the fact that they all apparently exist in me.

My First Week at Ohio State University
I grew up in a small city so when getting ready for the move to Columbus I was really nervous about how I would fit in and feel while living in such a different environment then I was used to. Although my roommate and I had talked before move-in, I was still slightly worried that we wouldn’t get along in person because I’m a pretty introverted and shy person. I find it difficult to put myself out there and make friends so my biggest fear was definitely that I wouldn’t be able to make friends. However, my roommate is pretty outgoing and she put me at ease very quickly. Saying goodbye to my parents was tough but there weren’t as many tears as I was expecting which was nice. I don’t think I could have borne the initial separation as easily as I did if we were all crying. I was most excited to see what my classes were like. I was not disappointed. They all seem pretty manageable and microeconomics and anthropology both seem very interesting so far. Although I can’t say that I enjoyed waking up early to go on the retreat after a long move in day, I can say that it quickly introduced me to the new people around me and helped me to feel comfortable talking to strangers. I even made my first friend that day, Elinor. When classes started, I had a bit of a hard time finding them but managed to not be late once and as the week progressed, finding my way was definitely easier. On Wednesday, once again, the humanities scholars program (and Scott dining hall) helped me to make a friend in Emily who just so happens to live next door to me. I was even able to meet a girl named Bella in my microeconomics class who just so happens to be in the humanities scholars program as well. All in all, my first week of college went way better than I was originally thinking it would. I fully expect to love Ohio State even more as the year goes on and the summer heat turns into fall. I expect that every once in a while I will still get lost because I have a terrible sense of direction, but if I can find the oval I should be okay to figure out where I am. I am already excited for the things on the calendar for this program although I don’t expect to enjoy all of them. Overall I am very optimistic about the future year here.