When I was accepted to the University of Connecticut, I wasn’t fully aware of what that meant. I didn’t grow up in Connecticut, so I was blind to the chokehold UConn had on the entire population. I was just happy to go somewhere that gave me enough financial aid not to stress about it. It also helped that all of my best friends were going there. My journey at UConn has been interesting to say the least.
Since I’ve been here for five years and this is my last semester, I thought I would rank my years at UConn from best to worst and reflect on my time here. For fun, I will be adding a song that defined/I was listening to the most that year.
1. Super Year
I call this my super year in light of being a super senior. I get a lot of heat from my coworkers about being so old, but in reality, I am glad I took an extra year to really get the college experience. I missed my first two years of college and last year. I came back from the battles I was phasing the year before, and I am now living what I was supposed to have last year.
I was able to stay in the same apartment I moved into my fourth year with new roommates. My roommates and I clicked instantly. We go out, hang out, and now I have relationships that will last my entire life. I joined Her Campus and was able to work on my writing, which made me want a career in fashion writing someday. Although we did not get a national basketball championship this year, I am leaving with something greater: the lessons and memories that I will carry with me forever.
2. Sophomore Year
This is when I started to get a footing in all of this college nonsense. I started to drive and had my own car, so I felt very independent, whilst still living at home, of course. This year was a little hectic because I decided to change my major in the fall, which required me to move to the UConn Storrs campus. I wasn’t ready to move to Storrs just yet, so I decided to move during my Spring semester. My last semester at UConn Waterbury was amazing. I made new friends, I was more comfortable in the new environment, and I was driving.
3. Freshman Year
Unfortunately, I did not start at UConn’s main campus when I first came here. My first year was spent at UConn Waterbury, which is where I also reside. I was so excited to start college, but I didn’t drive at the time, so my mother had to pick me up; it felt like I was still in high school despite graduating a few months prior. Freshman year wasn’t very eventful, but it marked a new beginning in my life, and for that, I loved it. I also met some new lifelong friends and connected with old ones.
4. Junior Year
Junior year is when things got a little all over the place. I decided to commute after one semester living on campus, whilst also working two jobs on and off campus. I decided to commute after my roommate from the Spring semester moved to another school, and I did not want to room with a random person. Also, I wasn’t a fan of the communal bathroom situation.
I never realized how burnt out I was this year until it was over. I was still trying to figure out my life and did not have a consistent college experience, which caused a lot of anxiety this year. I decided that I wanted to live back on campus, but because of the housing crisis, this was very unlikely to happen. Until it did.
5. Senior Year
This year, I decided that I needed to get back on campus after commuting all junior year. I was able to score an apartment downtown and move in with my best friends. I had the time of my life in my senior year. I had my own room, my own bathroom, and the women’s basketball team won a national championship after a nine-year drought. While I was having a great time, I was also going through some medical issues that prevented me from performing in a lot of my classes and daily activities. I wasn’t able to show up how I needed to. I ended my senior year needing surgery and another emergency surgery right after.
My journey at UConn was neither easy nor linear. Commuting, only living here for one semester, going to a regional campus, I went through pretty much every college experience version you can think of. I have been through so many different versions of myself, and I will forever miss these eras of my life, no matter how many times I say how excited I am to leave cow town.
I grew up at UConn, and that is something I think we can all relate to. From the late nights at D.P. Dough, early mornings on Horsebarn Hill, and the walks from Alumni to Putnam because I missed the red-line bus, my heart is forever touched by UConn and the memories it gave me.