Dear freshman Ariana,
You’ll arrive on campus with your unicorn pillow pet, headbands and hope for a fresh new start. You’re excited to live with a roommate for the first time, an endless sleepover! You peer outside your new bedside window, which overlooks the city skyline and nervous butterflies fill your stomach. You anxiously stand in line at the dining hall to wait your turn to get a waffle and swipe your new student card. Things feel new, you could get used to this. You participate in campus events and lay out picnic blankets at Monroe Park to watch the blazing sunset with your friends. Outdoor movie nights, after dinner cookie runs and afternoons at the library all become parts of your new routine.Â
You’ll learn that not everyone wants to be friends, and that’s okay. There’ll be many nights you lie awake staring at the city night sky and ache thinking about home. Your friends from high school stop calling; they’re all on different journeys now. The boy you liked stopped reaching out. You’ll be uncomfortable eating alone in public and doing things by yourself. Sometimes you’ll receive a grade you didn’t expect and it feels personal- new professors won’t always agree with you. You’ll be lost at times- literally like that one time you rode the bus by yourself and got off on the side of the city- but you’ll always get yourself back on track. You’ll feel like you have to start over again and again.Â
But your confidence will rise in ways you never expected. You’ll have the opportunity to meet people from all over the world with different cultures and stories. People will inspire your life and they won’t even know it. You’ll have professors who believe in you when you didn’t believe in your capabilities. College will encourage you to care less about what people think about you and your personal style. As a girl who grew up in a small town, you’ll appreciate how you have a voice in this city, and that campus opinions are radically different than what you’ve always heard of. You’ll have a lot of firsts. You learn to say no. You learn to say yes. You’ll get comfortable breaking rules and coloring outside of the lines by stepping out of your comfort zone. In your junior year, you’ll be introduced to a study abroad program that’ll completely change your life. Can you believe that you’ll spend a month in Italy and visit the exact sites you glued down on your freshman year mood board? You could’ve never prepared for what was to come.Â
You’ll discover that you’re not “too much” or too different- you’re just right. You’ll find communities that love and appreciate you, where you can be your authentic self. You’ll start sharing your ideas, your heart and discover passions in ways that you never knew were possible. Nobody will call you “shy” anymore and you finally come out of your shell. You found a home. You’ll find your best friend. You won’t always have to be that introverted girl who showed up to class freshman year- chin down, wide eyes peeking through fluttering eyelashes. In four short years, you’ll walk away from this campus and this city with your head high and your curls just right.  Â
Looking back now has provided so much clarity. Remember that the most important relationship you’ll have is with yourself. You’re your only best friend at the end of the day. Trust yourself, say yes to more things and love everyone around you with all of your heart. Stop being a people pleaser! Don’t forget to let the creative flame within you burn bright. Senior year me is here to give my freshman year self a warm hug and a big push out into the world. You’ll be fine, more than fine. You’re going to become someone you’re proud of.Â
Xoxo,
Ari