Summer session has been quite the learning experience. For the last 6 weeks I have gone through many different emotions, and experienced many new things.

Starting with what I have learned about myself, I have learned that I need to be outgoing and open when meeting new people. I can be a little shy at first when I don’t know anyone, but after coming to summer session I’ve learned that I can’t just sit back and expect people to come to me and want to be my friend. I have to be outgoing and put myself out there, which I think I got better and better at throughout the semester, and I have made some great friends because of it. 

I have also learned that time management is so important for me, I need to write down what I have to do each day, or I may forget about it or just lose track of time and not do it. Lastly, I was pretty homesick when I first got here. I missed my family, my friends, and just being in a familiar environment. But as the semester has gone on, I’ve realized that I enjoy this sense of independence I now have as a college student. Although it can be scary, it’s also exciting to be starting this new chapter of my life. 

I have learned some about my family as well during my first semester at PSU. I am the baby of my family, so my parents kind of have the college move-in routine down. I knew that they were not always going to be there for me to ask for help, and I learned throughout the semester that they wanted me to try to figure things out for myself before calling them and asking for advice. I am grateful for this now, because it allowed me to be independent, even when I did not really want to be, and forced me to take situations into my own hands. However, they still called me a few times a week and we talked about everything that I’d done that week. I’m really close with my parents, so it was an adjustment to be so far from them, but I learned to be okay with it and embrace the freedom I now have.

My family and I!

As I said before, some of my challenges during summer session was trying to be more open with people, as well as managing my time. Other challenges have been figuring out the best way to eat while here. At first, I felt like it was really easy to eat healthy while here, but as the semester has gone on I have had more and more temptations get to me, like D.P. Dough calzones or getting ice cream from Louie’s. However, I have been able to somewhat manage it, and I’ve gone to the IM Building and Orange Theory Fitness to stay active, so I would count that as one of my successes during the semester.

I will approach the fall semester at Penn State with so much excitement and confidence. I am already so acclimated to the campus that I don’t have to worry nearly as much about getting lost, and I have people that I’m already close with that I will be so happy to see. I cannot wait to go to football games for the first time, and get that real Penn State tailgate experience for the first time. However, there will still be some nerves coming in as well. This time I have 6 classes rather than just 2, so managing my time and focusing on studying during the week is going to be a challenge, and I don’t know exactly what to expect. However, I have had a taste of what the workload is like in a college class, so I will be ahead of the game compared to the freshman who are just starting.

I am so incredibly thankful for my time here during summer session, and everything that I have learned and the people I’ve met along the way. I’ll see you in the fall, PSU… We Are!