Dear Sarah,

I hope you know you are not the only one who must adjust to college. My first week of classes was rough, too, having to find time to do all my homework and still find time for myself. You will find out quickly in the first week if the major you pick wasn’t meant for you. I dropped a class my first week, so I do understand the struggle. Because the first week of move-in consisted of hanging out with everyone, and the dorm was always clean, for the reason that no one had classes yet. Rather than now, everyone has multiple classes a day, and everything just gets messy. I try my best to clean my room at least every other day, but you can ask my roommate. I’m just a mess, and the dynamic you have with your roommate is me and mine. My roommate wants to join a sorority and all these clubs, and I want to I just haven’t taken that next step yet. But something I can relate to you from my first week of classes: it’s so much easier to make friends in college. All you have to do is relate with them on something, and then they are one of your new best friends. But one thing that never gets easier is living in a new place without your family or past friends from home. You went home and got to see your family. Mine was flipped; my parents came down here for a family weekend and they brought my dog. It was a feeling of security in a way because calling them isn’t the same as having them in front of you. I wish I could tell you how excited I am to see my friends back home next week for fall break. But one thing you need to remember is that college is building you into the person you need to become it’s always going to be an uphill battle, and it’s not supposed to be easy.

As Sarah recently started class, she was already feeling that her brain was going into many different directions with different emotions. Sarah had a very similar view on the first week of classes as myself. I remember sitting there and listening to everyone around me just like Sarah did. When Sarah got back from classes her and her friend Maddy were talking, Sarah asked if she stalked her on social media, and of course she did because that’s what we do. I did the exact same thing, but I did this with my suitemates since I did not know them in person. I feel that many people did and still do this when they first meet someone. When Sarah picked up the phone from her friend back home and Maddy immediately wanted to say hi, it reminded me of calling people from home. My roommate is a childhood friend of mine, so we both share the same friends. It seems to me that when one of us is on the phone we are both on the phone. Then, Sarah was talking about missing her friend and she can not wait to see them soon. I relate to this, because I always look forward to seeing my friends at home when I go for the weekend. When Sarah met “photo guy” in class, and he told her that she looks like she knew her way around, she was confused and mentioned she had not figured out the bus routes. Thinking back to the first week or so of school, I was so lost on when the bus was coming and where it was going as well. Sarah went to the dining hall just like myself, and her thought was why was the dining hall so good then, but not now? This explains me and how I feel about the dining hall here at Longwood. As Liz and Sarah were sitting on the bench thinking about missing their dogs all I could think about is how I miss mine. Even though missing my dogs and family is upsetting it just reminds me of all the good times we have when I am home. Reading more in the story, Sarah mentioned not feeling good and then Maddy saying everyone is getting sick is such a true statement here at Longwood too. My suitemates got sick, so we all got sick. Finishing reading all the pages, I noticed that mine and Sarah’s experiences are similar, but also different at the same time. I think it’s fascinating to know that I am not the only one feeling this way, but so many others as well. 

Freshman Year by Sarah Mai is a relatable book to me in so many ways. This book so far has made me feel the emotions I went through while moving to college once again. I first related to Sarah when she came home after graduation and asked herself if that was it, because after my graduation I asked myself that same question. The realization that I was about to start my college journey hit me that night, I was now an adult. Though I was already an adult, I still did not feel like one and the realization that I was starting my independence journey dawned on me.

One scene that stood out to me was when Sarah was on a family trip and told her mom how she was stressed about everything, took me back when I was preparing for my college move in. I planned how my summer was going to be like, me doing everything I needed to do for college and my personal life. I wanted everything to be perfect, which I learned the hard way that nothing is perfect. I had planned to go skydiving with my friend, but my expectations were shattered, because my friends and I had schedule conflict and were not able to hang out much. I did get to spend quality time with my family, which brought me joy.

When reading I noticed similarities between Sarah’s mom and mine, especially in the shopping scene where Sarah’s mom overbought supplies. When shopping with my mom she often wanted to buy things I did not need because she didn’t want me to miss home too much. It was funny to see her worry more than I did, even though I was the one moving away. I particularly related to Sarah’s mom when she mentioned how her mother drove her nuts but was happy to go home in thanksgiving, because I cannot wait to go home during fall break to see my mom and eat her food.

Another scene was how Sarah’s room was mess from packing. It reminded me of how I procrastinated all summer and started pacing days before my moving day leaving my room in a similar state. The emotions Sarah was going through when Finn and her drove to the corn field was something to which I could relate. I felt like I was moving away and never coming back, even though I knew that was not true.

On moving day, my mom was in full “mama bear” mode, giving me a talk on the dos and don’ts and thinking of every possible scenario that could happen to me. So, I can relate to Sarah siting through her father telling her things she should do and not do. Overall, I find many similarities between Sarah and myself and I look forward to seeing what more we share by the end of the year.

Sarah’s first week of classes just started and I can’t help but notice how similar our experiences were. While she’s more on the talkative side, In her French class she notices that everyone is slightly more in the know than she is. My first week of classes I had this exact same feeling, sometimes I still do.
She also has a bigger work load and it seems to stress her out. If I had a penny for every time I got stressed out by school work, I’d be rich. But she has friends that make it just a bit easier for her and that’s what I love so much about college. You can be losing your mind over school and someone will be right there for you cause chances are, they’re losing their mind too.
She talks to her mom about how she feels like she doesn’t have the time to do anything but write papers and draw, and I can completely relate to that. If I’m not at work, stressing about what’s going on there that night, I’m in my dorm worried about everything that’s due. That’s what also brings more problems to me. I’m trying to work and stay afloat and do school at the same time. Maybe I just need to get better at time management. Or get a better sleep schedule. Most of my week is going to classes and as soon as I’m done for the day, I go to work. Sometimes I dont get home until 10:30-11ish area, and it feels like it leaves me no time to do anything, especially not before assignments are due.
Sarah talks about how she had such an optimistic outlook for beginning college but now she’s always just worried and anxious. I don’t think I’ve heard anything more true than that. I was so excited to start college, I thought that when everyone told me that college is a little difficult and trying that I would easily find my way around that. But now I’m starting to believe that while it is possible, it just takes time.

Now that I am six weeks into the semester,I have really felt stressed and pressured on my upcoming assignments. Just like Sarah had all the calc modules due, and a midterm in two weeks, I also have three exams and precalculus homework due this week. My college experience also relates to Sarah because I also formed a study group in the library just like Sarah did, to help me understand precalculus better. Unlike Sarah, I am looking forward to the holidays because I get to spend time with my family and I get to take a break from college. Although I am happy that I get a break from college, I am nervous about the future assignments that my classes are going to assign me. Being that I am already stressed out with the responsibilities of getting my work turned in on time, I don’t want to get too overwhelmed or deal with serious anxiety problems that may lead to deeper depression. One of the college experiences that Sarah went through in college was her boyfriend breaking up with her. Sarah seemed to be surprised when her boyfriend told her the morning before her class; on the other hand, I have never experienced a break up while in college. I felt bad for Sarah because she was already overwhelmed with all of the college work and planning on how she was going to pass her midterm; so receiving that news made me feel sad for her. I think that a larger university would make me feel just as stressed as being here at Longwood. My reason for saying this is because there is still a lot of responsibilities that I would need to take account for when doing my assignments and managing my time wisely. For example, I sometimes want to go to the gym to workout and play basketball; however, I may have a precalculus homework or another assignment due the night prior. But as much as I think that a larger university would be the same, I also think that a larger university would be different as well because there are more students, which means a bigger and more diverse environment. In some colleges like JMU, professors consider students as a number; however, at Longwood professors know the name of their students. Another way that a bigger university compares to my experience here is how I would be able to meet new people from different parts of the world. I feel as if students that were freshmen would be just as nervous as I am just like freshmen that go to Longwood. All in all, I can relate to all of the challenges that Sarah has faced in her first year of college; however, I look forward to conquering them all!