After this year, I feel like I have learned a lot about myself and my own strengths and weaknesses. After living alone and away from my family for the first time in my life, I realized it was time for me to grow up and learn to take care of myself. Before college, I almost never did laundry and had never shared a room with anyone else before. This made coming to college an adjustment, but I adapted much more quickly than I had ever expected to. I feel like this year has taught me a lot about responsibility and the importance of the ability to adapt to unfamiliar circumstances.
This year has also been an interesting experience for me in making new friends. In order to make friends at such a large school, it is important to put yourself out there. As an introvert, this was a scary idea to me. However, I learned a lot about my willingness to meet new people and openness to new experiences while I have been at Ohio State. I have realized that maybe I am not as introverted as I once thought I was, and I think that living in the dorms has truly brought me out of my shell. I have made plenty of new and wonderful friends, and I am very thankful that I found the strength to put myself out there and make friends with people I may never have spoken to before.
Academically, my first year of college was an extremely difficult adjustment, but I believe it has been successful. I began this year as a chemical engineering major and am extremely proud that despite difficult coursework I have stuck to this goal throughout the year. I found disparity in the amount of work between high school and college very surprising, because I had many friends who told me college was easier than high school. But I am extremely proud that I have tried my hardest and successfully adapted to the quicker pacing and more intense workload that accompanies college level coursework. I intend to stay in my major of chemical engineering due to my passion for science and chemistry, and I am excited to continue coursework in this major despite the challenges that may come with it. It is important to me to continue studying science topics, and this year especially I have discovered that I have a natural affinity for math and I enjoy my math coursework very much. I never thought I would enjoy college level math coursework, but I have found it very enjoyable thus far. While chemistry, my previous favorite subject, has become a bit more of a challenge for me, I find that I am able to understand the concepts if I only work hard enough at them. I enjoy my major overall so far, and I believe that I have been doing well in it so far. As long as I keep working hard, I believe I will be able to graduate from Ohio State without changing my major once.