Freshman Year

There was always those people in my life who said that I would learn

SO
MUCH

from college. 

I didn't put much stock in that. 

I knew I would learn things like how to find the density of a rock submerged in water halfway relying only on the gravitational constant g = 9.81 and the volume of the displaced liquid. But I didn't think I'd lean much outside of class. 

I figured it would be more work than high school, but I didn't know how much more.

After my first year here at Texas A&M, I can confidently say that I was proved wrong. I have learned just as much outside of classes, assignments, and homework as I have not in class. 

I learned through ASSIST (Aggies Selflessly Serving In Shaping Tomorrow) how to build a shack. I learned to design, draft, blueprint, find lumber, build, and assemble a shack over the course of 2 months. 

I learned how to make 5 dollars last me trough the entire week for food (ramen noodles and frozen chicken FTW!)

I learned how to deal with crisis when a frantically friend called us after leaving the library at 3 am to inform us that she had just been groped by an old man who ran off (We reported the incident for her, officers came and questioned her, the man was caught and now faces assault charges).

I learned how to talk to someone with whom I couldn't relate, to comfort and care for them when they needed a distraction from their thoughts. 

I learned how to open up to people.

I learned how to get through a day without shoes, and which surfaces on campus hurt the most to walk bare foot on.

I learned how to give myself to others in a way that showed me how selfish I had been before college. I learned that what I have to say is important.

All of this while studying rates of change, frictional forces, Abstract Expressionist artists, Rhetoric, Taylor Series, Bicameral Legislatures, the effects of the Immigration Acts of 1924, the culture behind Jesus Christ Superstar, how to breathe underwater, and how to solve problems with divergent and convergent thinking.

College truly is a unique and exciting place, and I have been so blessed this year with a Freshman experience that could rival any.