I don’t even know where to start because thinking of writing this post is making me both sad, happy, and confused. Sad, because I am going to finish my first year of university; happy, because I’m glad it’s over; and confused because, really, where did the time go?
If I were to describe university in one word it would be: refreshing. It’s like drinking a glass of cold water during a hot day, or like taking a breath of fresh air in earth’s pure nature, away from the city. University is refreshing because it finally feels like you have taken a step away from high school and your childhood and a step towards maturity, growing, and finding yourself. You begin to learn things about yourself you never knew and you start to understand how things in the real world work, even if sometimes your classes seem pointless. Some of the major things I learned had to do with my program and classes, my commute, the people I met, and the freedom I gained all within this first year.
Going to a completely new school where you know no one is scary, but almost everyone is in the same boat as you. They are all looking to meet new people and make friends. Orientation week was where I met tons of people in my program, some whom I haven’t seen afterwards and others whom I still keep in contact with today. During the semester, you continue to meet people as well, whether it be through a class or just sitting in the library building asking someone to watch over your stuff. You just need to break out of your shell and approach a new friendship.
It’s true, the freedom is real in university, even as a commuter. I no longer feel like my life revolves around school, but more like school is a (large) portion of my life, but I get to explore other things, too. In my first semester, I had two days off and even on those days I would commute downtown just to explore the city. By having a flexible schedule, I could also do more with my time like go to events or panels on campus, and in general, just do things I couldn’t in secondary school because of its fixed schedule.
The amount of work you put in to each course is outstanding. It’s not like secondary school where you can pull something together in the last minute, especially when it comes to exams. It’s close to impossible to learn an entire semester worth of content in one day, let alone one all-nighter. This was something I had to learn to adjust to: not procrastinating.