How My First Year at College Has Changed My Life for the Better

For most of us, college is the land of new experiences: we meet new people, try new things and begin our lives as adults. While I can only speak from personal experience, I can almost guarantee most of you can relate to a lot of the things I went through in my very first year of being a college kid.

Image courtesy of Christine Burney

The best part

Okay, don’t lie — picking our class schedules is the BEST part of college. If you’re a weirdo who likes 8am classes, go you! You can go to all the 8am classes your (probably organized) heart desires! If you’re more like me and like the sensible 2 or 5pm classes, guess what?! You can do that too! No more do we worry about the high school days of classes from 8 ‘till 4, or the mandatory uniforms (I went to an all-girls private school in Australia, we even had boater hats for the summer!) or the forced music/drama/dance/sport lessons. Admittedly classes are a lot harder now, but we usually have a lot more fun in them. Many of my professors don’t mind the occasional phone popping out during class, and students usually end up being on first name basis’ with their professors. The freedom college has given me has allowed me to develop my own identity and person, while providing a sort of structure, keeping me balanced. Being in college has also offered me numerous opportunities to meet hundreds of new people and make acquaintances from all over the world, from a variety of different cultures. The mixed immersion of different philosophies and ideologies allows me to expand my personal perspective on the world, and I like to think it has made me a more accepting and welcoming person.

Love goes a long way

Perhaps the biggest occurrence in my college life was falling in love (cue: awww) and developing the most mature relationship I’ve been in, like, EVER. Practically living with someone, and having them sorta dependent on you (and vice versa) is an odd feeling, especially considering I’m still practically a child. Many people will tell you that having a serious relationship in college is hard, since everyone is all ‘explorative’ and ‘discovering themselves.’ Despite all that, and the fact my boyfriend and I began dating a few weeks into our freshman year, I like to think we’re going very well. Having someone to rely on and to be able to talk about my problems to; someone who’ll understand better than say, my mum who doesn’t have any idea what CMPA is (“Is that where you learn how to build computers?”).  It makes me look forward to the end of the day, while pretty much guaranteeing I have someone to sit with at lunch. Not to toot my own horn, but my boy is easily, EASILY, the most adorable person at SCAD, and I know he’s always got my back.

The ups and downs were worth it

Ultimately, college is about finding out what works for you, and what makes you tick. My college experience has been full of ups and downs and loops and turns but I’ve loved like, 80% of it. Okay maybe 90%. Even getting in trouble was fun, but that’s a story for another day. My freshman year was about making friends and trying out greasy American fast food, and I can’t deny that I have learned a lot. As the year draws closer to the end, I can honestly say I can’t wait to come back.  Cheers for now.

• college
• experience
• first year
• freshman