With the close of this semester, I will officially be more than halfway done with my undergraduate college career! It is truly surreal to think about, and I can barely comprehend that my college experience is almost over. Every semester I’ve attended here at Loyola has taught me new things that I never would’ve considered. Here are some of the things I learned over the course of my time at college that I will carry into the rest of my college career and beyond.
- Fall 2020- Make the best out of a bad situation
My college experience started online in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was pretty miserable for the most part, but I managed to form some valuable relationships with my classmates and professors over Zoom and beyond. Even when things weren’t going my way, I did my best to maintain a positive attitude and keep an open mind. Sure, I still let myself feel the negative feelings I encountered. However, by not letting the semester online absolutely ruin my college experience, it made me more willing to move into college with an open mind.
- Spring 2021- Don’t buy things just because you can
Because college was my first time living on my own away from my family for an extended period of time, I made a lot of stupid mistakes that I learned valuable lessons from. One of those things, which I’m honestly still struggling with today, is healthy spending habits. Though I have gotten better at buying less things I don’t need, I’m still struggling with cutting back on overbuying food. Although I can donate unused food, it still was a good lesson to realize how much food I bought compared to how much I actually ate. The advice to not go food shopping while you’re hungry is very good advice, which I will make sure to consider in the future.
- Fall 2021- You will make close friends in college, but you have to put some effort into it
At the start of my first semester of my first full year in college, I made some great friends that I still have today. Fully in-person classes allowed me to get to know my peers more and have meaningful conversations with them. But that didn’t just happen because we were all desperate for things to return to “the new normal” (although it might have been a part of it). It happened because I put time and effort into getting to know people and making myself available to them. Sure, not every attempted friendship will be successful, but this semester taught me the value of true friends at college that you won’t take for granted.
- Spring 2022- Take advantage of all the opportunities you can
With junior year coming up, I knew there was more I had to get done. I was offered the position of temporary Editor-in-Chief for Her Campus at LUM while our previous EIC was abroad after expressing my interest and taking on more duties within HC at LUM. I also learned that I could take an internship class through Loyola’s Writing Department that would allow me to write for another publication. Learning about all these opportunities made me realize how much college has to offer you and how important it is to secure these opportunities when you can. Although it made me nervous putting myself out there, I was glad I did it.
- Fall 2022- Maintaining a work/life balance is hard
Because of those opportunities I took, I can say that this semester was my busiest semester, without a doubt. My usual course work, combined with other activities, meant I was considerably overwhelmed with the amount of work I had taken on. Finding a way to manage my time to get my work done (and make sure it was at my standards) and still find time to relax and hang out with my friends meant restructuring my work schedule and finding new habits that worked for me. Even though the last thing I wanted to do was get up Sunday morning to work on a paper, it was worth it to get to watch a movie that night while eating dinner with my friend/roommate.
The lessons I’ve learned during my college experience was part of why I wanted to attend college in the first place. I’ve learned so much here, and I can’t wait to see what else I’ll learn!