The school year is coming to an end, and I was able to learn so much about myself. After high school, you’re finally on your own. Ready to face the challenges of life, right? The majority of my graduating class chose to continue their education at college, separating into their own paths and being open to new experiences. As an out-of-state student, here’s my experience as a freshman at Michigan State University.
August
I had every emotion possible, from sadness to happiness to nervousness. I didn’t get an ounce of sleep the night before. I honestly wish I had treated my first week at MSU a lot better than I did. My roommate and I went exploring the dining halls and the bus system, but I wish we went out to meet different people. Don’t get me wrong, the few people we met were nice, but those friendships didn’t even last until Halloween.
One major thing I took away from August was that the walk from Hubbard to Target is not for the weak. The day we moved in, we realized we had forgotten a few things back at home, so we decided to go to Target. It’s only 1.2 miles away, so it shouldn’t be bad, right? Wrong! Our feet were already tired from moving in and climbing the stairs because the elevators were constantly being used. We didn’t know how the bus system worked, so we walked. On the way back, we realized it would be hell walking back, so we rented Spin scooters. I realized my phone was gonna die, so I tried to end the session but it wouldn’t let me, so I decided to delete the app. When I got back to my dorm and charged my phone I was welcomed to a forty dollar charge on my card. Great start to my college journey.
September
I attended my first college football game! The second game of the season was Michigan State vs. the University of Richmond. At this point, I deeply regretted not buying the football season tickets. Everyone was reselling their student section tickets for around 40 dollars or more. I had to buy my ticket for an unreasonable price, but I was desperate to attend a game. The game was fun (definitely not worth what I paid, but still fun). My hometown has absolutely no school spirit at all, so it was refreshing to see a student section that actually participates. Before we knew it, the game was over and we had an overwhelming victory. I’m actually pretty happy we won, and if we had lost I would’ve been heated.
Same with the last month, I wish I had interacted with more people. Sparticipation was a huge thing and was right outside my door. Being in East Neighborhood is not for the weak. Everything is so far away, and all the events are usually closer to campus. There were so many clubs and so many people there. It was so overwhelming and my goal changed quickly. Instead of trying to join clubs, I started trying to collect the free stuff. My recommendation to any incoming freshman is to not do what I did. Collect the free stuff while actually going to the booths you want to go to.
Classes were also starting around this time and things were going smoothly. I had my “unassigned assigned seat” and my “academic weapon” mentality ready for the semester. Again (and I cannot stress this enough), I wish I had taken time to meet the people around me. Most of the people in my classes were first years just like me, and we could relate to the same things.
October
My classes were simple, I was finally trying to meet more people. After a couple of weeks of missing the bus and getting the door slammed in front of me, I could safely say I was a CATA bus pro (thanks to the Transit app). Although none of my classes were above the Red Cedar river, I still learned the North and Brody neighborhood routes. Every freshman needs to know that you enter the bus through the front and exit through the back. Half of the times I had the door slammed on me when I was going through the door could’ve been prevented if I just followed that rule. Saves a lot of embarrassment and pain.
Things were going great until they weren’t. My dad had gotten sick and was admitted to the hospital. The doctors told us he had an infection and would need open heart surgery. Hearing this broke my heart, and caused me to visit home constantly to be with him. In the middle of the month, he was able to undergo surgery. The surgery took way longer than expected after coming across many complications, but he made it out okay. This is where my mental health went downhill. I was constantly on and off campus to help support my mother and father. I wasn’t as social and accidentally cut off a bunch of friends from back home without even realizing it. My grades began to decline and my mental health went with it. My major is super competitive and my GPA did not match the average admitted student into the program. I had the option to drop my classes from the semester, but it would mean I spent the month for nothing. The tuition I paid, the subscription for class, not to mention my progress on the ALEKS assignment for CEM 141. I decided to not drop these classes after looking at the financial side.
November
My dad was getting better, which meant my visits back home were less frequent. Time to get back to being an “academic weapon” and not an “academic victim.” I was behind, despite my efforts working from back home. I still didn’t talk to most of my friends from back home and I didn’t have many friends on campus since I was gone all the time. Any friendships from the beginning of the year didn’t last and wouldn’t have lasted during the time of my dad’s surgery. I have one person to thank for keeping me sane, and they know who they are. No matter how bad it got, they were always in my corner to help cheer me up. I encourage everyone to have that person, no matter who or where they are.
Thanksgiving was a great break from the stress of school. This was the break I needed too get away from school and spend time with my family. I ended up using the end of the break to catch up to everyone else and was successful. I was getting back on track!
December/January
Finals Week! I honestly have nothing to say about December because most of the month we were on break! After realizing how bad my first semester was, I thought about transferring to Ohio State University for the next year. After thinking for a while, I decided to give MSU one more chance. If this semester was bad, then I would definitely be transferring back to my home state. In January, I began my healing journey. I realized I cut off a bunch of my friendships and tried reconnecting with friends. I focused on making friendships and joining new clubs. My sister sent me a few clubs that she thought I would enjoy. This is when I found Her Campus at Michigan State. As cliche as it sounds, HCMSU gave me a lot of happiness that my previous groups couldn’t give. It’s easier to make friends with people you have a common interest in. However, I wasn’t able to attend a good amount of the meetings because of conflicting meeting times with my other club. If I was to go back, I would’ve gone to more of the meetings. I dreaded my other club but stayed with it because it would look good on my application. I wish I placed less importance on that club and put most of my time and effort into the clubs I liked.
The new semester meant new classes, which meant a fresh start. I decided to put less effort into my school work and more effort into meeting new people.
February/March
At this point, I was able to reconnect with most of my friendships back home. I quickly realized I needed to spend more effort on my classes instead of making friendships. Taking Cellular and Molecular Biology took a toll on me. After the first exam, I realized I needed to focus way more on this class than all my previous classes. I began trying to find a balance between my social life and my studies, and I used these months as trials for this.
My studies were interrupted by Spring Break, which really threw me off when coming back to school. I decided to book a last-minute trip to Los Angeles. I really enjoyed my time there, and would recommend everyone visit once in their life! After coming back from break, I tried to get back into the swing of things, but was definitely not as productive as I was before the break.
April
The school year is mainly coming to an end. I’m taking my decorations down, and packing away my clothes and belongings. My once homey and decorated room is turning back into the stale jail it once was. I begin to get ready to say goodbye to my dorm and the many things I will miss from it. No matter how much I “trash talk” East Neighborhood, it will always have a spot in my heart.
To any out-of-state freshman, my advice to you is to use welcome week to talk to new people! Meet as many people as you can! Many other students will already have friends from their high school so you’ll be at a major disadvantage. Make new friends and talk to as many people as you can! Find people in your classes to talk to, and get help from. Create goals and stay focused on them. This is the time to figure out who you are, and most importantly enjoy yourself!