Katerina Banovic's "Expectations vs. Reality" Reflection Essay

Over the past four months, I’ve had a very eventful first semester. Bigger events include things like Service Day, my trip to New York City, and the upcoming finals but I've found excitement in the smaller events as well. While my reality did not entirely match my expectations, I can say that I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent here so far.

Several of my classes had unexpected group work but most adhered to the structure I expected. Classes feel impersonal and require a lot of self-studying in order to do well. College courses have less assigned work than expected which is stressful since it means there are fewer grades to rely on. However, the amount of work I end up doing is what I had expected.

In SGC I didn’t expect to cover things like the honor pledge, the different forms of science reports, or the geological topics we covered. In contrast, I had expected to go more in depth when talking about the impacts of climate change in the past few centuries, but we’ve only touched on this a little. I've had a great time during the outside of classroom activities as well. I was worried that I might be miserable during Service Day, but I really enjoyed it! It was surprisingly fun to pull weeds from the lake, even if I almost fell in the water. I went on the New York trip for my excursion which was exhausting but not too bad. My group got some decent pasta and had fun looking at the gem exhibit in the museum.

My high-school vision of college life was less interesting than what I’ve at UMD. I’ve met a variety of interesting people throughout the few months I’ve been here but did not expect to meet such dependable people like the ones I have in my life right now. My roommate and I get along great and are extremely close! We talk about almost everything and plan on living together next year. My first few weeks were a bit of a struggle as I tried to get used to university life, but I eventually found my footing. It was hard to be away from my friends back home since I had spent so much time with them over the summer and was afraid that things would change too much while I was gone. I’ve visited home several times, and nothing has changed too much since we text a lot.

The college life I had envisioned did not include me spending so much time in the Centreville lounge, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself. My friends have allowed me to introduce them to card games and a few board games which means a lot to me since I played a lot in high school with my friends. Out of the larger group, two of them are in SGC with me. One of them shares a few interests with me and has recently been getting really into the board games that I’ve shown the group. We exchange songs with each other and my taste in music has been diversifying because of it. My other friend also enjoys the card games we play and is one of the most interesting people that I’ve ever met. We joke around a lot which can always make my day better, even after I’ve spent hours doing chemistry work.

All the people I hang out with are extremely reliable, smart, and have been making my college experience exciting. I have several other friends outside of SGC, who I equally adore considering how much fun I have with them. Two of them are from Boston and are both unbelievably sweet, one of which I’m attempting to get housing with next year as well. I drink a lot of caffeinated drinks and I’m typically up late but can always count on two people to stay up with me. Without getting too sentimental, the best part of my day is usually going into the lounge. We’ve started talking about plans for summer break since several of them are out of state and I don’t know how long I’ll be able to go without bothering them in person. We haven’t known each other for very long so there’s still plenty to talk about and cannot wait to spend more time with them.

I would recommend that any incoming students talk to people about their interests and be honest! In comparison to most people, I’m pretty nerdy. I like Dungeons & Dragons and anime which I’ve always been a little bit embarrassed about. However, since coming to college I’ve been unashamed of my interests and have made friends because of these hobbies. My nerdiness is one of the things that make me interesting and being at UMD has helped me find myself as an individual as well. Not everyone that I’ve interacted with (or will interact with) will be a life-long friend and I shouldn’t take this to heart. Letting other people’s opinions rule your life doesn’t make it any better and the only opinion that really matters is your own. There is never any reason to “water yourself down” for another person and it’s important to live your life authentically.

Last modified: 11 December 2023