Trust me: I’m a freshman

By: Drake Facione

As an incoming freshman, college life can be intimidating. We all probably know most freshman are likely to feel homesick in their first semester on campus. However, this is totally normal and understandable. Everything that we knew back home, our friends, family, town, is all completely gone and we have a fresh slate. The schools and faces that we got used to seeing day in and day out are gone all of a sudden and life gets scary for what feels like an eternity, but in reality it’s just a few weeks. It’s up to us to make the best of our situations. For some of us it’s hard to make new friends right off the bat and we may feel lonely or different in the first few weeks. But I believe with given time, we will all grow as people and students and develop lifelong relationships with many people here at UF.

On move in day, we all were eager to get to Findlay and start this new chapter of our lives, then we said goodbye to our families and all of a sudden reality hits. Some of us are extroverts, it’s very easy to socialize, find friends, fit in and instantly feel excitement about the upcoming years. Then a good majority of us are probably introverts, we’re more reserved and quiet people, and it’s difficult for us to find out where we belong at first. No matter what type of person you are, I confidently believe that we will find our paths here at UF and will all be satisfied.

If you’re in a sport or club, you may feel satisfied with your friends that you already have among that group. That’s awesome and completely okay. However, you never know who could end up being your best friend just by starting a conversation. We all have much more in common than we think. Sitting next to someone in a class and talking to them could start a lifelong friendship. You truly never know until you get out there and try to make the best out of your time here in college.

To all of the incoming freshman who want to leave and go home already, it’s important that we just stay patient and give us time to get settled in and feel comfortable. I myself feel lonely at times and think that I won’t be able to fit in, but you talk to a few peers and feel much more confident about the way that you feel. Once you find the right people to make connections with here at UF, time goes by, and over time you realize that you have made the tightest bond with these newfound friends. All it really took was time!

Moving forward, this isn’t high school anymore. We can’t slide by easily in our academics and we have to buckle down and treat college curriculum seriously. Every course we take here is equivalent to thousands of dollars for most students. We must use that time in our classes as a form of currency. Invest the most into yourself so you can get the most out of yourself. Productivity is key for making sure we stay on top of our studies and priorities in college. At the end of the day, we are our biggest critic, and must work to be the best version of ourselves. Best of luck to all incoming freshman and let’s have an amazing year here at UF!

 

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