Top Moments from Freshmen Year

As I take a break from designing my final website for Digital Media and studying for my Statistics final, I want to take some time to reflect on my freshmen year. First off, it is CRAZY how fast this year went by. It literally feels like move in day was yesterday. I have no idea where the year went, but I'm so happy to say that it was an awesome first year! Here are some of my favorite moments from the year:

Becoming a Tour Guide and Blogger: I love sharing all of my experiences with you all! Blogging has been something I have done since last summer and being a tour guide was something that I just got chosen to about a month ago. Even though the whole tour guide process just started, I'm already addicted to it! I enjoy helping out prospective students a lot and I'm looking forward to keep blogging and giving out tours next year!

First Year Seminar:

The people in my first year seminar class were also in my orientation group. Here's a picture of all of us during orientation!

For my first year seminar, I took the Examined Life with Professor Lair. The class is about analyzing your life through writing, reading, and sharing your work with the other students. It was the best class I've taken here so far because I got to learn so much about myself as a writer and as a person in general. Robert Lair, my professor, helped me a lot in and out of the class with any papers I was struggling with and never hesitated to provide me with feedback. Lair also made sure that we developed a strong connection with our classmates outside of the class too. He scheduled some weekend events where we went out to eat or went hiking up Mount Mansfield. Even though I took this class my first semester, I still keep in touch with Lair about my current classes.

Roommate bonding:

Jaycie and I on move in day

I think most people come into freshmen year with some worry about what their roommate is going to be like. I wasn't stressing about it too much since I talked with my roommate, Jaycie, over the summer and she didn't seem to display any of those crazy roommate symptoms from stories that I've heard or movies that I've seen (does the movie The Roommate ring a bell?) Anyways, me and Jaycie ended up getting along really well and I'm glad to say that we are not only roommates, but also very good friends!

Deciding my major: I started off my first semester as a Psychology major because I was interested in doing something with clinical counseling, but once I started taking more media classes, I realized that I had more of a passion for media. I'm still interested in Psychology, so it's my minor right now. What I love about the MJD (Media Studies, Journalism, and Digital Arts) major is that you have the opportunity to explore a lot of options within the major.

Adventures:
Even though first years can bring up their car second semester, not having a car my first year was fine by me since I usually just took the free bus transportation or sometimes if it was a nice enough day, I would walk places with my friends. Some places that are all pretty enjoyable places to walk are Cumbie's, Dunkins, Rite Aid, the Essex Junction County Fair, North Campus, Pizza Putt, and even downtown Burlington if you're feeling adventurous. Also, during one of the three day weekends, me and my friends went to our friend Brianna's house, saw her alpacas (shown below), and then went to New York for the day!


casually chilling with an alpaca

Celebrating my 18th Birthday: It was awesome enough finally turning 18 (since I'm the youngest out of the majority of my friends) but it was even more awesome celebrating it with my two friends from home and my friends I made in the first couple of weeks (and all who I am friends with today).

Brendan, my two friends Jamie and Joanna from home, Tan Wai, Katie, and Dennis

Living in the Quad and Ryan Hall: The first year students all live in the quad. I really liked living in the quad because it's close to everything on campus and it also gave me the chance to meet a lot of people in my grade. I especially loved living in Ryan because I met a ton of my friends there so whenever I wanted to hang out, they were only footsteps away. Here are some of the awesome people who I lived with in Ryan this year: 

Me and Morgan

Me and Dennis

Sarah, Me, and Brendan

Brianna, Emily, me, and Sophie

                                          



Finding my second home: I'm happy to call Saint Mike's my second home. I've met so many great people and I've already made some pretty awesome memories during my first year here. This is going to be a long summer, but I'm super excited to come back home for sophomore year!