Not going to lie, I was not expecting things to go the way they have. At all.
Socially, I struggled at first. My only friends were a friend from high school, Meredith, and her roommate, Rachel. We mostly just saw each other on the weekends at football games and such, but as the semester went on, we started grabbing lunch during the week and doing more than just hanging out on game days. I would venture to say that Meredith and I are a lot closer now than we were in high school.
As I grew more comfortable at OSU, I started branching out and I made a couple more friends. It is hard to be as involved as I would like to be, since I live off campus and work 40+ hours a week. I wish I would have joined at least one club at the beginning of the semester, but I think I will at the beginning of the next instead. By now, I have (sort of) figured out how to better balance everything.
Academically, I started out super well. I had straight A’s in all my classes but I was growing super exhausted. I feel like I haven’t been well rested since summer, if not before. My anxiety became uncontrollable and I started skipping class here and there, thinking it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, and that’s when I saw my grades begin to slip. As soon as I realized that this was impacting my grades, my anxiety got worse but I started making more of an effort. Now I’m currently in grade recovery mode. We’ve almost made it.
As the semester comes to a close, I want to focus on the positives a little bit more. I grew comfortable being on my own and navigating through unfamiliar places. I experienced my first OSU vs Michigan rivalry game, which OSU won. I went to a twenty one pilots concert in Cleveland with a friend I haven’t seen in a while. I turned 19 and my best friend, Saige, came down from Kent to celebrate. I went as Wonder Woman for Halloween, as I have been wanting to for years. I spent a wonderful weekend in New York with my mom. I grew closer with old friends and made some new ones. I went to a trans visibility rally and cried a lot. Most importantly, I started to make a little nook for myself at OSU and I’m more excited than ever to expand it over the next few years.
*Cue photo montage*