Me and the Wimpy Kid

My first year is now almost over, with only final exams now as the last obstacle I face. It’s gone by much faster than I’d expected, and the experience here has been a little different from what I’d first been expecting. In terms of whether anything has changed since the first semester, not really. My friends have stayed the same, classes haven’t been any easier or harder, and the day to day life is unchanged. I’ve found that compared to my first semester, campus has started to feel a lot more dull (and most noticeably, the food does not sit well with me anymore), but I guess that’s what happens when you get used to a place. It’s not all negative though, as I’ve met more new people, gone on more fun outings, and I feel that I’m learning a lot of new things.

For the most part, the courses here at UMD have had no real surprises. The majority of courses are exactly what you would think they are from the title and summary given, and your experience with them can be easily gauged from just looking at a few sources for reviews and talking with those who have taken the class. However, some classes are surprisingly easy for how many credits they provide you with (in my case, that was ENES210), though they often have a catch (such as having to buy a book that is not really necessary). Other classes, such as MUSC205, are surprising in terms of the difference between lecture and discussion. While lecture for the most part is quite boring, discussion tends to be surprisingly interesting, and oftentimes you actually look forward to going to it.

In terms of developing a relationship with faculty members, I could not say that I am in much of a position to give advice. Out of the eleven professors that I have had, I would say I have occasionally talked with three of them multiple times (so about 25%), and I do not actually have much of a relationship with any of them. I think that there are various obstacles that get in the way of talking a lot to a professor. For some, it is that you have little interest in the course they teach (math for example). In others, it is that they teach a massive class of hundreds of students and are busy, and so you cannot find much time to interact with them, and there is not much to say even if you did. For others, it may be that their office hours are at a time that you cannot go to due to conflicts with other classes or breakfast/lunch (in my case, if the professor had office hours between 10 am - 2 pm, I probably would not be able to make it). I have found that it tends to be easier to develop a relationship with the teaching assistants, since they have more time and energy to focus on the students, and it is a lot easier to meet them during a convenient time. Out of the six or so TAs that I have had, I have been able to form a friendly relationship with about two of them (so about 33%), and I think the relationship with them is much more natural compared to forcing a relationship with a professor.

I have my close friends from high school with whom I meet up multiple times a week, and interacting with them helps make life here a lot less stressful and a lot more interesting. But I still find making friends to be quite difficult. Because of how large campus is and how everyone has different schedules with a wide variety of classes, meeting the same person often enough to develop a friendship is kinda hard. Classes are also less frequent than high school, and many do not give you an opportunity to talk with those around you, so that makes it even harder to meet people. I think my mistake was not sticking to a major/minor where you and those around you are forced into a small selection of the same classes, since then you would have an opportunity to get to meet the same people more often and hopefully become friends.

I think I was least prepared for making new friends and discovering new things. While the University is massive, it becomes extremely easy to become lazy and do the bare minimum to pass, without taking full advantage of all the opportunities here. At UMD if you want to do something, you have to go a lot out of your way in order to actually do it (whether it be clubs, making friends, or other stuff). It does not just come to you, and unfortunately I did not really realize that in my first semester.


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