My First Two Years: A Retrospective
With less than a month until I head back to Nashville to start my junior year, I’ve lately found myself thinking about all the ways I’ve changed (in a good way!) since I first stepped onto Vanderbilt’s campus two years ago.
I’m going to get right to it–in the form of a short list.
1. I have a major (two, actually)–and I kind of know what I want to do with my life: When I first came to Vanderbilt, I was as undecided as a student can possibly be. By the time I declared my majors last semester, I had taken all sorts of classes in an effort to find my “calling,” from Calculus to History of the Blues to Introduction to Ethics. I can’t say that now I definitively can say exactly what my future career will be, but I do know that I love my majors–Cognitive Studies and Medicine, Health, and Society are two things that I never would have imagined myself pursuing two years ago.
2. I am significantly more independent: As cliche as this sounds of a college student, it’s especially true for me. I didn’t get my drivers’ license till I was eighteen, which meant I depended on my parents to drive me places pretty much up until I went to college. Leaving home and going to school 2000 miles away meant I was truly on my own–and I am so glad that I chose Vanderbilt. It makes going home that much sweeter, and I’ve learned a lot about myself as a result of time away from my family.
3. I have a job: Working in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions as a student worker has provided me with work experience that I never had before. I really enjoy the people that I work with, and having a job provides me with extra money and keeps me from begging for money from my parents (yet another way in which I am more independent now).
4. I have learned the value of doing my laundry on a regular basis: This one is pretty self-explanatory, but I learned this lesson the hard way one morning, when I had woken up late and couldn’t find clean socks in the middle of winter. Let me just say that I promise you’ll never regret doing laundry–but it’s pretty safe to say you’ll regret not doing it.
Perhaps there will be a part 2 to this post later on, but we’ll see!