First Semester

My first semester at Virginia Tech has been a very memorable experience. Over the course of a couple months I have meet many new people, experienced college level classes, lived in a dorm setting, went to my first Virginia Tech football game, and I have become adapted to a totally new and exciting environment. This new environment is gradually changing me into a more rounded and intellectual individual. Deciding to attend Virginia Tech has been one of the best decisions I have made in my lifetime and I cannot wait to see what the next four years have in store for me.

One of my biggest fears before I arrived at Virginia Tech was if I was going to get along with my roommate or not. Fortunately, I get along great with my roommate, we hang out all the time, and we are even going to live together next year with three other girls. Our three other roommates to be all have very different personalities, but we all get along very well. In addition to these four girls I have made a couple of guy friends as well and we all usually hang out together on a regular basis. We all have gone to the movies together, gone to parties, and we have even just hung out in one of their apartments and watch funny videos on YouTube. Overall I made some pretty great friends and they have made my first semester at Virginia Tech a lot of fun.

But the most fun I have had here was going to my first Virginia Tech football game. Game days in Blacksburg are the best because people tailgate all day before the game and then everyone actually goes to the game and stands up and cheers the entire time. But perhaps the most memorable moment for me on that first game day was when the football players entered the stadium while they played Enter Sandman. The song was being played so loud and the entire stadium is up on its feet jumping to the beat. It’s an indescribable experience that gets you so pumped up. But for me, it also made me feel like a true hokie and that I was in a place where I belonged. Although I have had many experience that make me feel a part of the Virginia Tech community, going to football games have been the best and most memorable ones.

But of course since I choose to be a part of the Virginia Tech community, I must participate academically. This first semester has been a totally new and more difficult academic challenge for me. I had always pushed myself in high school to take more difficult classes such as advanced placement, dual enrollment, and other challenging courses such as calculus, but none of them can even be compared to the level of difficulty I am experiencing now in college. I am currently taking Chemistry, Biology, English, Math and labs for both Chemistry and Biology and they are all very different from the classes I remember taking in high school.

My classes now require me to work much harder for good grades, study a lot more, and for me to be much more independent. I was used to getting A’s on just about everything I did in high school, but now I am working just as hard only to get a B, C or worse. So I have learned to keep trying harder and to always try to keep improving. Although I am often disappointed in my grades in some of my classes because I feel like I studied or tried my hardest and I still did not get the grade I was expecting. My labs are also totally different from high school. They require much more thinking on your own and much more work.

Being in this college setting where I have to watch after myself and make myself go to class has made me much more independent. If I over slept while I was back at home and still in high school I could count on my parents being there to wake me up in time to make it to class. But now that I am living in a dorm, I have to make sure that I do not over sleep and I had to learn not to allow myself to skip classes just because I do not feel like going (although it is very tempting sometimes because your parents are not here to make you go). But so far I have been doing very well and I hope my hard work will reflect back on my grades.

Adapting to the college setting has been very difficult but a lot of fun which makes it all worth it in the end. Week after week I am swamped with homework and studying but when I finally make it to the weekend I am glad I get to relax and hang out with all of the new friends I have met and just have a good time. I feel that I am very lucky to have met the people I have and that I am actually happy with my decision in which college to attend. Some of my friends from high school who went to college after graduation did not make the best decision on which college to attend. Some of them are having trouble finding friends they get along with, having difficulties getting along with their roommates, or are just realizing that they do not like the college that they decided to go to.

Personally I am very happy with my decision to come to Virginia Tech. I believe that it is a great school to go to with many good opportunities. I am going to try my hardest to make these next three and a half years at Virginia Tech memorable and beneficial to me as a person. Although I cannot wait to experience living off campus next year living with four of my best friends, I do not want it to go by too fast. I feel like this semester has flown by, but it has been a lot of fun and it is only the beginning of the new life I am preparing myself to live.