When people tell you college goes by quickly, they are not joking. I am approaching the end of my freshman year with only two weeks left in the semester, and it honestly baffles me every time I think about it. So much has happened since I moved here in August and started my journey at Point Park.

First things first, university is mostly what I expected it to be. I expected it to be very challenging, especially as a dance major with the rigorous hours that come with the dance department. I expected to be really out of my league here and like I had no idea what I was doing. (Sometimes, that has ended up being true.) But in the end, I feel that I adjusted to college quite easily. A plus of a rigorous program is that you don’t have much time to stop and think. You’re constantly going and doing something. Maybe if I had had more free time, I would have interpreted my environments differently.

I think that you do really grow up and start changing into the adult you’re meant to be for the first year of university. You also learn a lot. At the beginning of the term, I was nervous, reserved, completely unsure of what this year was going to look like, and worried that I wouldn’t be able to accomplish any of it. Now, looking back at the year, I wish that I hadn’t had worried about things so much. Sometimes, I was almost driving myself crazy when I was nervous about a presentation or an audition, or even just one of my classes. Nothing is ever as big of a deal as you think that it is. That being said, of course it’s important to care and perform well as a student in whatever you choose to do. But there has to be a happy medium, and I wish I would have found that more for myself, especially this past semester.

Friends will come and go. I will say that out of all of the people I met the first week of school and were “friends” with, I am not really friends with now or as close with them as I was. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. It’s part of the experience and dozens of social circles that you end up dipping your toe into when you first start school. I found so many other new friends from countless other majors and departments over the course of the semester.

I’m sure everyone has looked back on their freshman year and wished that they had treated it differently or done something they didn’t do. Being a freshman, of course, you are at the bottom of the food chain. You really don’t know anything and it’s kind of annoying to be a freshman, just like it is in high school. But, it’s just part of it and something you have to go through. Everyone was a freshman at some point in their lives.

My biggest advice for freshmen would be to try not to worry and just take everything as it comes. In a way, it’s a little sad that you can never be a freshman again. It’s not something that you can get back. Although my year definitely didn’t go the exact way I had planned, I still enjoyed it so much and am grateful for all that I learned about myself and others. I’m a little sad to leave everyone for a few months and the university itself. I have loved my “freshman bubble” this year and don’t really want to stray away from it, although it’s virtually inevitable.

I’ve heard that it gets better, it gets easier, and that the rest of college goes by really quickly. I wonder how my expectations of sophomore year will pan out and if I will become even more different of a person. My goal is to have a relaxing summer filled with a good balance of sleep and fun, and I’m so looking forward to starting back in the Fall.