As I start to reach the end of my freshman year here at Texas A&M, I have been reflecting a lot about how much things have changed. Throughout the whole school year, friends and family have asked me the same question over and over again, and that is: Was it everything you expected?Â
The simple answer is no. In fact, it’s pretty much been nothing I’ve expected. Before coming to college, I had these big notions of what it would be like. For as long as I could remember, I had been dreaming of going to college. All throughout high school, I fixated on this idea that I just had to get to college and then my life would really begin. We watch so much media depicting college as big groups of friends, parties every night, and throwing the frisbee on the quad. I thought with certainty that that would be me, but as with most things, I built up some pretty unreasonable expectations.Â
There was no world in which college would have been everything I expected it to be because that would simply be impossible; my expectations were far too grand for reality. However, that’s not to say that my freshman year hasn’t been amazing. In a lot of ways, there have been a lot of good surprises and things I’ve learned about myself.Â
One of the main things I had hoped for when starting college was to make this big, all-encompassing friend group. However, after a couple of months, I realized just how much I didn’t really want that. I had made a couple of friends, but never the big friend group I had imagined. Now, though, I am really glad for this. With big friend groups, you don’t always get the chance to know people. However, with the few friends I’ve gained here, I have been able to create close friendships that I hope will last a lifetime.Â
The other thing I had anticipated was going to parties super often. I basically assumed that by going to college, my personality would change completely, and I would somehow really enjoy parties and going out. The truth is that I have never really enjoyed parties or going out that often. I am most definitely a homebody. It can feel a little bit like you’re missing out when you don’t really like all of the things people deem to be fun. However, it is really just a matter of finding other people like you, so it doesn’t feel like you’re missing out as much.Â
This year has basically taught me that I should go out of my comfort zone, but still respect who I am and not force myself to be someone I’m not. College doesn’t have to be everything I expected because it can still be something amazing and my own.