When I went to college, the only thing I knew about it was what I had seen on TV and in movies. The reality is that college in real life is almost nothing like what we see on the big screen. The change from living with my parents and being in high school, to living independently and navigating a college lifestyle is drastic. I learned a lot in my time as a college student thus far, so here are some things I loved, learned, and loathed.
What I love the most about college is the people you will meet there. I have never known such a great diversity of people before coming here, and it really makes you see life from a new perspective. I have also made so many friends at UMass, people in my dorm building, classes, clubs, and even the dining hall, which is the last place I expected to. I love walking around this massive campus but still feel like I belong because I always see someone I know. There are friendships that I have made that will be lifelong, and they will last beyond graduation. The connections you make at college go beyond just friendships; I have connected with some amazing professors who have solidified my interest in my major in psychology. They push me to be the best that I can be, and I am always learning from them. I know I will continue to strengthen my connections and meet new people as I continue my college career.
The biggest lesson I learned here was to take better care of my health. One of the biggest shocks to me what how much people get sick in college compared to high school. In the first semester of college, I think I visited the University Health Services at least ten times and had a total of three different infections along with many other random sicknesses. The amount of money I have spent on cold medicine and urgent care visits is outrageous. What I learned from this experience is how important preventative measures are when it comes to your health. Hand sanitizer and electrolyte water will be your best friends. In the second semester, although I have still gotten sick a few times, I have been significantly healthier than the first semester, and I plan to keep it that way.
The thing that I absolutely loathe the most here is the communal bathrooms and showers in the dorm buildings. For whatever reason, the girls in my building do not know how to clean up after themselves. The bathrooms are disgusting, and there is nothing I dislike more than people who don’t respect others, especially in a shared living space. So I hate having to share a bathroom because I would rather keep my own bathroom clean, with no hair in the showers and no toilet paper strewn all over the floor. I wonder if the bathrooms are this bad in every dorm hall or if Gorman Hall is just a little bit special. Although next year I will have to share bathrooms once more, all I can hope for is that the girls on my floor are a little bit cleaner.
It is hard for me to believe that just a year ago, I was graduating high school, and now I am here writing this article outside in the grass on a beautiful sunny UMass Amherst spring day. There have been so many experiences in just this one year, both positive and negative, but I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of my college career holds for me. So here’s to my first year at UMass Amherst; you will always hold a special place in my heart.
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