Although I’m a junior here at MSU, it’s only my second year on campus because I transferred from a community college. This semester has been full of challenges and hardships, but I’ve also met amazing people and made awesome friends along the way.
My first observation of this semester was that my classes were significantly harder than sophomore year, since I’m taking major-specific courses instead of gen-eds. I don’t think I was prepared for the difficulty of my journalism coursework and the amount of time I would have to invest into my schoolwork to get good grades.
I took a class where I interviewed people and wrote articles that were published in newspapers around the state, and some weeks were easier than others. In my courses last year, I was able to procrastinate to submit assignments close to their due dates because I was the only one contributing. In journalism, I’ve learned that you can’t wait until the last minute to start an article because the person you need to talk to might not be able to speak until after your deadline.
My second observation of the semester was that I need to get out of my apartment more and spend time with friends. I have a different place than last year, and I’m a bit farther off campus, so I struggled with feeling far away from everyone. I isolated myself quite a bit in the beginning of the semester, which made me feel lonely. Towards the end of the semester, I forced myself to meet up with friends and not stay home for the evenings, which improved my mental health significantly. I am more of an introvert, but I also need to spend time with people, so I don’t get into my head and pull myself down.
All in all, this was a pretty decent semester that was full of learning opportunities. I made a lot of mistakes, but I also learned valuable lessons that I will take with me into the future. I need to reach out to others and accept help, even if it just means studying with people for an exam or going out to coffee with my friends.