This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Tampa chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
Four Things I’ve Learned in Four Months
The end of the semester means a lot of things: cramming for finals, finally going back home, moving out of your dorm, and saying goodbye to everything you’ve known for the past 5-10 months. But it also means reminiscing on all the good (and bad) times from the year- all of the memories from this second home. The end of this semester marks the end of my first semester in college, and all I can think about is how much I’ve grown since coming here in January and all the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I’ve learned so much from the friends I’ve made, the professors I’ve had, and all the experiences I’ve had on campus. But of all that, I think these four are the core reminders I had in my mind every day since I learned them.
- Go to Events
- Everyone tells you this whenever you first start out, but they tell you for a good reason: just get out there. Anything I saw on InvolveUT that looked even a little interesting to me, I got up out of my room and went. I got to make bracelets, face masks, get all kinds of free things, and honestly just meet people. I even volunteered for Party in the Park and got to meet one of my favorite musicians because of it. Even aside from meeting new people, I got to see people from my classes in a different setting and, through that, make some new, real friends. Just go to the event. There’s no downside.
- Make the First Move
- The most out-of-my-comfort-zone thing I’ve ever done, but I would’ve been lost if I didn’t. Go up to the girl in your class you talk to during partner work and ask her to lunch after. You might just make a best friend. And through her, you’ll make another. At least, that’s what happened to me, and I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t work up the courage to make the first move and invited her to eat. And it gave me the confidence to talk to other people and even explore parts of campus that I probably never would’ve been to if I hadn’t stepped out of my comfort zone in other ways.
- The Money Will Come Back
- This is, for me, a hard pill to swallow, especially being in college, but I think it kind of goes hand-in-hand with taking advantage of the events on campus. Over the course of this semester, I spared some loose change and got to ride a ferry to St. Pete, saw some incredible artists live, and tried some great new food. I’m not saying to blow through all your money, but I am saying that sometimes you have to take the opportunity when it comes up because you might regret not going, but you’ll almost never regret going. Try it once in a while.
- No One is Watching You
- I think it’s a kind of universal feeling for POC when they go to a PWI that there are some eyes on them, and I wasn’t a stranger to that feeling. Being Latina, I thought there would be some sort of pressure for me to try and fit in until I actually stepped on campus and realized how little people are worrying about me and what I looked like. But aside from that, there are certain kinds of styles that are heavily popular in Florida, and I’ve never been one to find myself wearing those styles; I love them on everyone else, but on me, not so much. There are certain things that aren’t really widely accepted in public: mouthing the lyrics to the songs in your earbuds, dancing along while standing in line at Chick-Fil-A, walking barefoot in the Plant Park grass. So I found myself even more worried than I already was. Which is so silly, retrospectively, being worried about how other people perceive me being myself. But then I realized no one cared about what I was doing. They’re not watching me or judging me. After all, what good do they get out of caring about someone they don’t know, who’s not bothering them? So don’t worry about how other people see you. They don’t care. They’re strangers, and for the people you do know, they don’t care either; they just care about you, being you.