To think I would ever be given the opportunity to go to university after my goals of going were crushed at the end of high school, my younger self would not believe me. This was not due to lack of ability or poor grades, rather I lacked the courage and strength to fight for what I wanted to do. I decided to take a two-year college program where I met a lifelong friend and an overflowing treasure chest of memories that I will cherish forever. I hoped that my luck was going to continue when I got accepted to Wilfrid Laurier University and was able to move down to Brantford. Unfortunately, it had ended abruptly in March of 2020. The world had just started shutting down due to COVID-19. I had accepted the offer to attend Wilfrid Laurier University and even though I would be stuck at home for at least another year, I thought it would not be all the bad.Â
I had lost my job and the possibility of finally being able to move away from home quickly diminished, but I still had a shimmer of hope that everything was going to be fine with everything online. I had gotten good grades at college, created a new time management routine, knew what to expect with online classes, and was striving for a healthy lifestyle; I had barely anything to worry about. I also had gotten back to work for at least two months, so I had a decent buffer of money to have saved up. A lot changed when September rolled around and the first week of classes started. Getting used to having a camera on, making sure the background was clean, collecting what I needed to before class, making sure my privacy was not being violated, was something easy to do at first but that did not last very long.Â
After October hit, I mentally hit a brick wall. I realized that the thing I was passionate about was not really what I wanted to do, even though I had been telling everyone that psychology was my dream career path, but I realized that it was not. What told me that the career I had been planning to do was not right was when I kept dragging my feet through my Psychology classes. At no fault of the professor, I was just not interested in the field anymore and I felt like I was clinging onto something because I felt that I did not have time to change my mind, which I was dead wrong. Furthermore, this semester also made me feel more socially disconnected through both semesters, which is something I do not want to experience again, but the future is too much in the air to say.Â
I crave to get back to walking around on campus with friends, watching various kinds of people walking by, eating mediocre cafeteria food, studying in the library, taking the bus, creating new memories that can stay with you forever; I think other students do as well. As this winter semester ends in a few weeks, and even though my first year at Wilfrid Laurier has not been the greatest, with the news of vaccines being rolled out I have hope that I, and other students, can return to a place that may be expensive, but we all can finally be face to face once again.Â
However, I do want to point out one of the highlights of this year which was joining HerCampus with the wonderful crew of ladies from the 2020/2021 roster. Writing for Her Campus allowed me to express myself and share my interests, Her Campus helped me practice writing when I kept saying that I can always write later. I owe much gratitude to the ladies who ran Brantford HerCampus for keeping me on track.Â