This semester has been crazy for so many reasons. It gave me so many opportunities that only could happen in a University setting. I was given the opportunity to find my home and my sisters in my sorority, meet tons of new friends, learn how to effectively study and get the chance to greatly improve my writing in this class, which is like no other I’ve taken before. It also tested my strength, not only as a student, but as a person who is capable of change and rolling with the punches. Nobody could have possibly foreseen the way this semester played out with Covid-19, which will undoubtedly be the defining moment of our college lives. However, I was able to prove to myself that I could rise to the occasion. 

As a person, I have never been good at coping with change. It’s always been something I was afraid of, and tried to avoid at all costs. When I left for college in the fall, it was possibly one of the scariest moments of my life as it was the biggest change I had ever experienced at that point. Coming back to school in the spring, I never expected something like this to happen. I got the email from the school that we were going home, knowing other schools had already taken that step, but always thinking, “Not us, we’re staying.” I remember everyone being so excited because they thought it was only temporary, and we would be back in a few weeks. I knew in the back of my mind that we wouldn’t be. While my friends were celebrating in the hallway, I cried alone in my room, distraught with the panic of another huge change that I was not prepared for. I cried the entire drive home while my dad told me that it was going to be okay because this wouldn’t last forever. 

In the end, this semester has taught me many valuable lessons that will alter the way I act for the rest of my college experience, as well as in the real world. Change, although scary, will always be a part of life, and a change as big as what we have all experienced has prepared me more for life after college more than any other typical college experience could have done for me. I learned just how fast everything we’re used to can change, and there is nothing anybody can do to stop it from happening. Being open to change is the only true way to get through the hurdles everybody encounters in their lifetimes.

The picture I included is a tattoo that I’ve wanted to get for awhile now that can serve as a reminder to me that change is inevitable and we have to keep “riding the wave” that is life.