Reflecting back on the first day I got on campus, I am in awe of the opportunities that have been awarded to me only four short months. Being a freshman, I am pleased with how quick I assimilated on campus. After a few days of getting lost with the countless number of buildings and navigating the CATA bus system, I feel competent enough to lead my own tour around campus. Thinking back to the first day of school, I had high expectations for this university. Penn State had been a dream of mine since freshman year of high school and I told myself that when I got here, I would seize every opportunity that I have and make my time here at Penn State memorable.

While it has only been four months, I feel like I have achieved that. I am taking classes that I am really interested in and I have fantastic teachers who really care about my learning. I have been able to attend lectures from fantastic people such as Brandon Stanton, Damali Ayo, Reverend Jim Lawson, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Ziauddin Yousafzai. These speakers have given me the opportunity to learn and think critically about the world outside of the classroom.  I have learned life lessons from these speakers I will not forget for a very long time.

I have been able to be involved in various social progress seminars and retreats. I got to join a Social Justice Advocacy group and I will have the opportunity to speak at a symposium in the spring regarding social justice. I got to go on a weekend retreat through the global programming office which focused on global engagement and leadership with a group of international and American students. I also got to volunteer with the Pregnancy Resource Center and various THON events, thus teaching me the importance of social responsibility.

 

We all know that college isn’t fun without sporting events! I got to go to a ton of those this fall. I got season tickets for football and I got to camp out at Nittanyville this year. I also went to every Penn State Men’s Soccer game and helped establish a student section for the soccer team that keeps increasing popularity. I got to go to Pegula Ice Area and see a few hockey games. I also got basketball season tickets and it’s been a blast going to those games. My goal is to attend at least one sporting event of every Penn State varsity team. I’m getting really close. I’m super excited for Penn State’s next fencing match. Through Penn State sports I’ve got the opportunity to go places such as a trip to the University of Maryland with the soccer student section to cheer on our guys in a game.

Most importantly, I’ve met so many friends that I am confident that will be in my life for a very long time. I’ve met friends that I can be downright silly with and that I feel like I’ve known my whole entire life. I’ve gotten the opportunity to make friends from all over the world. How many people can say that they have friends from Sweden, Venezuela, India, Dubai, Korea, China, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, and Peru? Not many.

I’ve walked though almost all of downtown State College, explored local businesses, taken the bus to places around Centre County to explore, and visited almost every cool place on campus and luckily documented it all.

I owe all of this to Penn State. I look forward to the rest of my time here and I can’t wait to see what they next few semesters holds for me.

We Are Penn State!