Freshman year, in a word, was a whirlwind: people, experiences, opportunities, failures, and successes flew past me with each day. My weekdays were filled with going to class, studying in the library, meeting up with friends for our nightly “family dinners,” and attending various meetings and social events. My nights promised many hours of studying, several mugs of coffee, and a few midnight adventures. Weekends went two ways: they either offered the freedom of roaming the streets of Athens with my close-knit group of pals, or they taunted me with a hefty to-do list and a mountain of laundry.
Out of all this year encompassed, I had some prominent highlights.
1. Discovering Social Media
Coming to college, I was the least tech savvy person you would ever find. Facebook?Instagram? Twitter? What were those? And what was the point of Snapchat? Why can’t people just text one another like they did back in the day? Oh, and why the heck was this thing called blogging making a comeback?
Honestly, Scripps College of Communication is what whipped me into social media shape. My professors, advisers, and upperclassmen friends would always advice freshmen to remember the importance of networking. For instance, I still shudder at the memory of the scathing look my JFresh adviser gave me when we were discussing Twitter.
“So, on average, how many times do you tweet per day? 20?”
“Uh, erm… what?”
“You do have a twitter, right?”
“Psh, of course I do. It’s required for the J1010 class, you know?”
“Well, yes, but do you use it other than when you’re studying?”
*Silence*
Needless to say, I realized rather quickly that I needed to make a few changes. I’ve been told that I went to the opposite end of the spectrum in a matter of a week. I now happily tweet, post, and snap.
2. Getting Involved with Cru
Via Megan Sindeldecker 🙂
Cru, the Christian organization on campus, offered a service on Thursday nights filled with worship, testimonies, and uplifting messages. Cru reached outside of Morton 201(the lecture hall we borrowed for 180), though. Because of Cru’s annual Freshman Getaway and Fall Retreat, two off-campus weekend excursions, I connected with more people than I ever thought I would. I was able to find several role models, and even more people to confide in.
Interestingly enough, several of my friends and I made 180 our Thursday evening priority, and I believe that really helped us to connect on deeper levels with one another.
3. Nights at Donkey
Friday nights usually consisted with piling on the couch in one of Donkey Coffee’s back rooms. Bananagrams, Scrabble, Mafia, and sometimes, to the baristas dismay, Kemps, would ensue some evenings, but serious cramming for exams whilst others looked at YouTube videos also occurred.
In a way, as a friend group, Donkey was a part of our identity. And c’mon, it was pretty unique. What other time have you ever heard of a group of friends loitering a local coffee shop and taking up space on the same couch?
Via Wikia, Wiki Friends
Via We Heart It
Oh, right…
4. The Horrors of Group Chats
Via Memegenerator
If a highlight is positive, does that make lowlights negative? If so, one lowlight of mine would have to be the nuisances we know as group chats. My group of friends and I experimented with regular, manually-made group chats. For those who don’t have iPhones, it became very confusing.
We then discovered Kik, a messenger app. That, too, grew rather annoying, and many people ended up just muting the conversation, which, in turn, caused more confusion. We are now at the point where we have two group chats: one is designated for dinner plans and the other is for random conversation (you can imagine which one gets muted).
5. Family Dinner
Think back to every Thanksgiving dinner you have ever had: all the family, including high-strung cousins, that weird uncle, and, of course, your snarky but loving grandma, all gather together at the same table, swapping stories, eating too much food, and more-or-less enjoying one another’s company.
For me, it was as if I were experiencing a quasi-Thanksgiving.
Every. Single. Day.
Without fail, it was the best part of my day, and possibly the best part of my college experience thus far.
I mean, look at us.
Via Rhys Ivan 🙂
Aren’t we cute?
Via Rhys Ivan 🙂
I’ve seen many coasters, quilts, and wall decorations with the saying, “Friends are the family you choose.” I never thought of how true that was until I met my amazing group of friends. We laugh together, get into trouble together, and try to fight each other’s battles.
Sound familiar?
So, how do I measure my freshman year? As I began this post, I thought I would end it with something sappy but cute, such as “I measure it with laughter and memories and promises and hope.”
Now, I have come to the realization that I can’t quantify it. For this was the year I found community; this was the year I found inspiration; this was the year I found adventure. Most importantly, this was the year I found myself.
No measurement could ever do that justice.
Ginger Power 