Going into college I had plenty of fears and I felt they were normal fears everyone had. Fear of making friends, fear of not being good enough in class, fear of not getting along with a new roommate. Talking to other freshmen, I found out these were in fact normal fears and I knew that I would get over them somehow. My classes weren’t awful, besides my Ancient Greek class which was 5 credits and everyday, but I learned to get used to it and I do enjoy learning the language. The summer before college I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do or what I wanted to major in so I felt like OSU was a good choice for me since I thought I would change my major a lot. I ended up not changing my major at all and am happy to study what I am, but everything else besides academics started to take nose dive. In the summer before college I was diagnosed with moderate to severe depression and thought counseling over the summer would have been enough, I really thought I was okay. A few months in and I realized that I wasn’t okay and that I needed more time to figure everything out. I decided to take a semester to stay at home and take online classes so I can figure out where to go from here but to also get formal treatment.

I have seen the humanities in my roommate Astrid. Out of circumstance, she has shared with me the cultural differences between China and the U.S. and specifically with mannerisms. For halloween, she gave my friends and I small gifts. In China, for holidays, gift sharing is a custom to celebrate holidays and be close to loved ones. Another way I have seen the humanities is through language. A man, Romelo, in my ancient Greek class, told us about all of the languages he knows, modern and ancient. To be able to see and learn from someone who knows so many languages and can connect to all of their cultures is inspiring for the depths of humanity he has seen. I see this a lot when I learn of people who are multilingual, the cultures they understand and how everyone has a unique connection amongst their cultures and experiences.

During my first week at OSU, a lot has changed and a lot of new norms have integrated their way into my daily routine. The most notable change would be interacting with new people and learning how to incorporate getting to know new people, but also staying true to myself and my academics. I like to be alone a good chunk of the time, but I also understand the importance of socializing and having a support system in a new environment. The first few days were rocky, and I felt very alone without my roommate, especially given the fact that everyone else on my floor had their roommate to explore unfamiliar places and experience all of the welcome week events with. It got a lot better once classes started and I could distract myself with homework and what not. Friends also got a lot better, I started to talk to people I had met from the retreat and from orientation and branched out from there. I feel like I have a good friend group, one small enough that mimics the kind of friend group I had at home. I am happy with the people I surround myself with and continue to make new friends in classes and getting to know everyone. Classes also got a little better, the heat is really making homework unbearable but I am getting through it and I enjoy all of my professors. I started to have ‘problems’ per say with my roommate, and we weren’t fighting but it was obvious we were very different people. I wasn’t getting very good sleep because of her and after the third night, she decided for health reasons to move to a single room. Its not that we didn’t get along, we just don’t live together well and I understand that there is nothing wrong with just not meshing well with someone. It does kind of suck because a lot of my friends are really good friends with their roommates and get along and I wanted the same but didn’t luck out.

Some other stuff that happened would be that I joined a club. The club helps curate art events and I’m excited to work my up into the club when I am an upperclassman. I also plan on joining a creative writing club but I have a class when they meet so I have to wait till next semester. I am thinking about joining a dog fostering club but I don’t know if I will depending on what happens with study abroad next year. Along with clubs and involvement, I did get a job in the Music and Dance library in 18th Avenue Library, and I am very excited about it, especially since they are working on an art cataloging project which is similar to something I have done but this time I’ll be getting paid. I hope to talk to my dad more than I am now, I miss him a lot, but my schedule is so bad this semester. My night class is a nuisance, even though I enjoy the class, the timing is horrible. I miss my friend Meggan, who goes to Kent, and I hope to talk to her more too. I am excited to get past this semester and hopefully start to have a more normal schedule and I’ll be able to do homework.

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