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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SMCVT chapter.

Coming back to school as a sophomore after over 3 months at home – in my comfort zone – I can honestly say I was worried about the kind of emotions I would have about being back on a campus without my mom and my dog and the comfort of home-cooked food. About living with 7 other girls who I love endlessly but also who I argue with like siblings. And about knowing fully that I needed to reinvent my comfort zone and the confidence I lacked during freshman year. The anxiety I felt in the last 15 minutes of my drive back to school was rampant, simply due to the nerves that come with starting again. But, in the last few weeks, 4 to be exact, I have somehow found a new part of myself that I wish I had found last year. Although I wouldn’t change anything, looking back, here are some things I wish I knew as a college freshman: 

 

  1. You may not necessarily know that the place you are in is “the one” but it is where you are supposed to be in that moment in time. I questioned so often my first and second semester of freshman year whether I was where I needed to be and it was only because of the discomfort of being in a new place. Give it time. What is meant for you will find you. 

 

  1. You cannot please everyone. You have to do what is best for you and devote time to what is important to you, to what makes you feel happy, content, and “at home” in a place that is technically “your home away from home”. Join a club. Go to the dining hall with someone new. Take a freakin’ nap instead of wearing yourself out at your own expense.

 

  1. You will text your people from home – your mom, especially – about everything. It’s not weird. You will want to tell them everything, what you ate for lunch, how your shower was, the stupid comment the boy next to you in class made, or that the people that work in the dining hall love to talk to you about the Bachelor. Because sometimes, even always in the back of your mind, you will wish they were with you. But, it’s okay. They will always be your home. Also, your mom will eat it up. 

 

  1. The friends you make the first few weeks of school are not necessarily your forever friends, the ones you envision as being your bridesmaids. But, sometimes they are. I have already made some of my best friends here, girls I would do anything for, and they were the girls who lived on my floor and who I met the first couple days of orientation. But I have also made best friends who I didn’t even know until the end of my freshman year. And I’m certain I will continue to make those friends. 

 

  1. It is okay to not know what the f*ck is going on. Some days are better than others and sometimes you know what you want or where you want to be in a couple years and sometimes you have no clue. You WILL sort it out. 

 

  1. You got this, babe.

 

    

 

Abby Poisson

SMCVT '22

Hi! I'm Abby, an International Relations major with minors in French and Peace and Justice. I am passionate about working on social justice issues in my community so that is my main focus in school. I love to be outside in any ways possible and in my free time, I find most peace in writing, specifically poetry.
Jewelry maker and business owner at Homegrown Jewelry VT. Business Administration Major with a concentration in Entrepreneurship and an Economics Minor.