After a full first semester of highs and lows at the University of Maryland, as a part of Science and Global Change Scholars, I can say that things have not gone as expected fully. I did not expect to make so many new, smart, kind friends. I did not expect to have this large of a course load. I did not expect to have this much fun memories already.

   On the other hand, the classes have been generally what I had expected, things were never gonna veer too far off expectations with the first semester full of basic gen-ed courses. Sure, there’s been some surprises, but really the only thing I did not see coming was the oscillation in workload. I knew I would have to put in even more effort to get all my stuff done, but–and perhaps it is just due to my combination of courses this semester--it seemed as though at some points all the big projects and work piled up on the same weeks, yet other weeks I had maybe one small thing to work on a night. The atmospheres of different classes were also varying: a few of my classes were the big lectures of fifty to a hundred or more students and even in the smaller discussion days things felt disconnected at times, but other classes could have as little as less than twenty students at any given day and it felt like I really got to know everyone in them.

  With Science and Global Change colloquium, things were almost never what I expected looking at the itinerary for any given week--there was always a new topic to learn about and things felt fresh each week, generally. I certainly had not expected to spend a whole day on learning about the formation and types of rocks, but it piqued my interest regardless. I knew the classes would generally be lectures and activities on various topics related to science and global change but I had not thought about the specifics. I had thought perhaps the course would focus more on the effects of climate change, which was talked about but not nearly as much as I expected. I thought there would be much discourse on specifically the changing weather patterns, including increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters.

   The one thing that specifically surprised me about the course activities was the portfolio task. When I first saw that we were making an online portfolio in HTML I did not know how to feel about it. I had worked in HTML before in a computer science class in high school and did not particularly enjoy it as a language. Yet despite my hesitance I had fun with the assignments, specifically working through the style sheet and researching formatting syntax to get my pages to look generally how I envisioned--though I still wanna take time out to refine the pages when I get the chance. On the other hand, I found connecting my pages to TerpConnect to be a bit finicky and somewhat of an outdated system; I had issues with re-uploading the pages after editing/adding to them, but eventually solved the issues by renaming the files, since I suppose they had retained the file names in memory and were recalling the old version of them despite being deleted from the system.

  Though the courses each surprised me in their own way, the biggest thing that defied my expectations from the moment I moved onto campus was the amount of people I connected with. In my classes, at program activities, around my dorm hall. I had not realized the magnitude of impact of living so close to tons of people with my similar circumstances and interests--being that most of them are also in UMD Scholars programs, a fair few also being SGC. I made so many new friends, and though I had a fair few before I had expected to hang out more with them--the ones also going to UMD--than any new ones I made here. This has not been the case. In fact, I have made a whole new large friend group which only keeps growing. Though from time to time I reconnect with my high school friends here, most of them live on the other side of campus and have formed their own new circles. I have gotten closer to many of my new friends than most of my old ones attending UMD, which became my biggest change and pleasant surprise. Living on campus proved to be an easy adjustment for me–I was never truly worried as I tend to handle change quite well, but somehow it did not seem like much of a change at all. In fact, after these several months it felt weirder many times being at home when I have gone back for short visits. The dorms were about the size and quality I expected, and though living with what was initially mold in our water fountain on the fourth floor was not ideal, it was an entertaining bonding topic between myself and the rest of my floormates to joke about.

   Overall my first semester at the University of Maryland met with, surprised, and at times surpassed my expectations for a start at college. If I have any advice to future UMD students--and future UMD Science and Global Change Scholars--it would be to not procrastinate but also to try not to stress so much and look for the fun things to do on campus; after all, you are only a freshman once, so might as well get the fullest, most lively UMD experience you can. Make friends, put yourself out there, and get creative, just don't forget to get all those assignments done because it is easy to let small ones slip through the cracks if you don't keep track.