Essay
I really enjoyed my first semester of college. When I got here I didn’t know what to expect for my classes and marching band, for CPSG, and for college life in general. I have grown so much as a student and person and now I am so happy to be in college.
I expected University courses to be similar to ones I took at my community college but harder. I definitely was not ready for my first set of exams. I have learned to prioritize, learned how to really study, and to not doubt myself. My classes are a similar layout to my community college ones but definitely have much harder material. Specifically my Enes 102 class and my Calc 241 are really hard for me to grasp. I really expected marching band to be a huge learning curve for trombone and for marching but it turned out that the learning curve for that was managing the huge time commitment. Marching band became the social and mental break that I needed after a whole day of classes and studying.
I honestly was expecting I would have time to get more out of CPSG100. I get to colloquium after a day of class with no breaks. I have such a hard time on Tuesdays. I didn’t expect it to be more like explaining climate stuff. I wanted to learn about solutions to climate issues. I really liked the one outside of the classroom activity I did. It was a climate art service event. I really think if I had time to do more and if I didn’t arrive at the colloquium really tired every day maybe I would have enjoyed it more. I do think that scholars is a good thing to come into college and have a place with peers that think the same way you do. I have met some of my best friends from the scholar's colloquium that are also on my dorm floor.
For college life I definitely didn’t expect it to be so fun! I live in Cumberland on a floor of people that all have roommates from different scholar groups. I absolutely love all my friends on the floor and it's so comforting to know after a bad day I have people sitting in a hallway that will listen to me and make jokes to make me feel better. It’s weird to not have a lounge but our floor has made it work. I like my roommate and it’s so nice that she is in band too. College life is hard to get used to initially but I really love it. I have learned so much about myself and how I like living my life in these few months. From becoming like family with my section in band to all my new friends. I never knew that I was more an extrovert than an introvert. College really made me grow as a person and I am so thankful that I am the person I am today.
College really did blow my mind. I was expecting things to be not as intense and I was scared I wasn’t going to make any friends. UMD really surprised me. I have grown so much as a person. College life is really different from my expectations. It’s so much fun!