My first year at OSU has taught me so much about myself. I’ve learned how capable I am to succeed in many areas ranging from academia to friendships. Though thee year had an abrupt and strange ending, throughout this “corona-cation” I have continued to flourish and grow as a person. This first year for me included a lot of difficult coursework, heavy on math & physics. When I started in the fall I had originally been scared away from pursuing my major in atmospheric science because a lot of heavy math can be quite intimidating. Despite the hours on end of studying and a few undesirable grades, I found myself nerding out pretty often where now I oddly enjoy learning more about these subjects. What I learned about myself is that the greatest barrier I’ve faced in the past for not understanding something well is because I had failed to embrace an interest in it. Studying with the mindset of enrichment and curiosity is so much more efficient and enjoyable than taking a class just to pass it. Outside of the classroom I have learned so much about independence and being somewhat on my own. Planning out an entire schedule based solely off of what responsibilities I need to fulfill, sometimes a whole week in advance when times were very busy is a whole new skill I had never had to do before. Not only working school work into my schedule but time to do chores, extracurriculars, spend time with others, get rest, exercise, etc. After living on a strict schedule at school it was pretty odd coming home and having that schedule extremely altered, but nonetheless I was able to use my planning skills I learned while at school and continue practicing good habits while at home too. I have too many great memories from this year with amazing people that I’m so grateful for. My favorite memory would have to be our camping trip. Considering all of us were still getting to know each other at the time, this experience opened the door for many friendships to start and grow. Looking back, I’m surprised at how much fun we had because we had barely known each other as well as we all do now, which makes me really excited for next year’s trip! Another memory I’ll never forget is joining the dodgeball team and traveling to other schools all around to compete and meet new people. This being probably the most unique activity I’ve ever been a part of is something I’ll always carry with me and share with people. Next year I look forward most to being back with my friends and appreciating their company. One thing corona taught me is how much I appreciated living with and being around my friends at school, and in a bittersweet way I know that this time apart will help us all realize not to take these college years for granted and to make the best out of them.

My results for the leadership style test was #5, the Thinker/Investigator! The results explained the investigator type to be an individual who fears helplessness and seeks competence. Always motivated by the desire to fill their brain with more knowledge, many people who follow under this category are scientists and artists. I find this result to be highly accurate because I fit that exact description. One of my greatest fears is spending countless hours studying and doing homework just for the knowledge to be easily forgotten once I need it. I seek competence and efficiency in my everyday life and can easily become stressed when things don’t pan out as they should. It is recommended that people of type 5 learn to take a breaks, find healthy ways to unwind, get advice, and learn to trust others and build close relationships. I often have a hard time giving myself breaks because I can’t truly feel like I can unwind until all of my tasks are completed. The best way to apply this to my life while I am a student is to build daily routines where I work non-school related activities into my schedule. These activities can help my unwind and build close friendships as the survey recommends. I think learning how to switch my brain from school mode to social mode would have extremely beneficial effects on my life because theres no way for me to feel rested unless the time I take to rest my thoughts don’t consist of mathematics and physics. Learning how to take mental breaks from school would play a monumental role in de-stressing and building my social life because so much of my energy that is being consumed by schoolwork can be reverted towards other areas of my life

Aside from the many exciting experience on campus at OSU, there are several exciting off campus activities I partook in the latter half of this semester! I recently visited the Short North with Caitie, Lily and Mackenzie. We took the COTA Bus from the Union down to Jeni’s Ice Cream. Aside from the amazing ice cream, the parlor itself was a nice atmosphere and respectable business. Something that stood out about Jeni’s was their effort towards sustainability in practice. For example, all of their spoons and dishes are compostable. Inside the shop, instead of “trash cans,” they have “landfill cans,” which promotes sustainable waste disposal. I . would highly recommend Jeni’s to anyone who loves the Earth and  ice cream! Another cool part of the Short North was the street art! There was a multitude of colorful & vibrant paintings on the sides of buildings to spruce up the street. We also visited Rocket Fizz Candy & Soda Shop. It was any sweets lovers paradise with almost every variety of candy and soda there is. I bought a 4 pack of unique root beer flavors that I’ll be sharing with my older brother as he likes to consider himself a “root beer connoisseur.” We then stopped in a Petco to say hi to some cats! Next we visited a thrift store called “Out of the Closet.” Here I found the most awesome Pokemon Mug, for cheap too. The service and selection was very good and profits from sales go towards AIDS research and charity. The shop is conveniently close to campus and has a great cause so I would highly recommend it! I learned from this experience just how easy it is to get off campus and explore using the COTA busses. By walking from place to place we also saw a ton more exciting places we could visit as well. One that stood out was a restaurant called Micheal’s Goody Boy Diner. It looked like it had a ton of history behind it so I’ll definitely be visiting in the future. I also found this place called the candle lab where you can make your own custom made candles! I also didn’t even know that there was a Kroger right by campus too. This mini trip has taught me that there is so much out there all I have to do is get on a bus as go!

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