3 Replies to “Comparing Sarah’s Freshman Year To Mine”

  1. Sarah Mai’s Freshman Year follows Sarah, a new college freshman, as she navigates the challenges of starting college. The story begins with Sarah’s high school graduation and her attendance at friends’ parties, introducing us to her social circle and busy schedule. We see Sarah balancing work at a plant nursery with socializing, mirroring my own experience of working in a restaurant and doing odd jobs. Sarah and I share similarities, including being in high school theater and winning the “Most Likely to Win an Oscar” award. The book then focuses on Sarah’s college preparations, including a shopping trip with her mother. This resonates with me, as I love my mom but find shopping with her a real challenge. The move-in day experience is really portrayed, with Sarah meeting her roommate and setting up her room. My experience differed slightly, as I ended up not having a roommate. The book then describes the exhausting days that are orientation, where Sarah ends up being a skeleton at the end of the day- a feeling I completely understood! The story moves with Sarah where she starts forming a trio with her roommate and the roommate’s best friend, talking classes and college life.
    Throughout the book, there are moments where the author addresses common freshman issues such as separation from parents and friends, maintaining long-distance relationships, and time management struggles. I also am dealing with some of these problems. When Sarah is having a problem with balancing her boyfriend I have no such anchor in my life and I am solely focused on how much I miss my friends and my family. I however have no difficulty maintaining long-distance relationships as my best friend was in Germany for a year and we are still talking to this day! I struggled a lot with finding time to communicate with all my friends and still making new ones. I really sympathize with Sarah on many of the main points and feel the pressure along with her. I’ve really enjoyed this book following Sarah and am looking forward to the next adventures!

     
  2. Your first year of college is marked by a blend of excitement, challenges, and self-discovery, much like Sarah’s journey. However, there are distinct differences that highlight how unique you both are. I can kind of understand not having a roommate, as I am a commuter and stay at home. I know moving to a new place and making new friends can be hard and stressful, but it’s a good thing. Change is often seen as a daunting prospect, but it can be incredibly beneficial, especially when it involves making new friends and adapting to a new environment. Embracing change can lead to personal growth, fresh perspectives, and a more fulfilling life experience. When someone is stepped into a new environment, you are exposed to new ideas and a different way to think. This is beneficial to help you develop a more open mind approach to different things in life. New friendships can be very rewarding too. New friends can bring fresh energy, and different viewpoints, that enrich your social life. So, I’m very glad that you are making new friends and being able to still keep in touch with your friends from highschool as well. Having good friends that help and push you to do great things in life is very important in life. Having great people in your life can really push you to do better and achieve everything you want in life. I am also struggling with time management, so I can understand that completely. Some ways that help me manage my time are setting goals, prioritizing tasks, and eliminating distractions. Setting goals by breaking tasks down into smaller, manageable goals. Prioritizing tasks by listing everything by their deadlines. Eliminating distractions by identifying what commonly distracts you and finding ways to minimize these distractions. These are just some ideas and I really hope they help or that you try them.

     
  3. It sounds like you’ve found a lot of meaningful connections with Sarah Mai’s Freshman Year, and I appreciate how thoughtfully you’ve reflected on your own experiences in relation to Sarah’s. Starting college is such a huge transition, and it’s interesting how both Sarah’s journey and your own involve such similar challenges, like balancing work with a social life. I can see how Sarah’s experience working at a plant nursery resonates with your work in a restaurant. I also like how you noted your shared involvement in high school theater and the “Most Likely to Win an Oscar” award. Those personal touches make your reflection feel unique and show how closely you identified with Sarah’s story. I also find it interesting how you shared the challenge of shopping with your mom how it’s relatable for so many, especially when preparing for a big transition like college. Although you didn’t have a roommate, I like how you still empathized with Sarah’s experience of meeting her roommate and adjusting to a new living situation. Your description of the exhaustion during orientation is also accurate and to everyone who’s been through it can relate to feeling like a “skeleton” by the end of the day. The part about long-distance relationships struck a chord with me, too. It’s great that you’ve been able to maintain your friendship with someone who was in Germany for a year, and it must be challenging to balance keeping up with old friends and making new ones, and it sounds like you’re navigating it all with a lot of thought and care.

     

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *