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Senior year of high school, I was the first to find out where I was going to be attending college the following fall. I applied to Smith early decision and it was the only school I ever really wanted to go to and one had been very passionate about. However, after arriving on campus and after the excitement about the new experiences wore down, I had a really difficult time adjusting. I missed my family, my boyfriend and my dog so much that I thought I might transfer to closer to home! One day, sitting in the Red Room in the Campus Center I began looking at old yearbooks from the 1960's and 1970's. I flipped through the pages and looked at pictures of all the women; they were having a great time and participating in all of the wonderful traditions that attracted me to Smith in the first place. One of the pictures I saw was of Ivy Day, one of the most beautiful and cherished traditions during Commencement weekend. As soon as I saw the picture, I called home and told my parents that I was going to tough it out another semester, because I wanted to walk with my housemates at graduation and march in the street with alums in a white dress! Most of all, I want to walk through the Grecourt Gate and take pictures under it with my diploma, friends and family! (Students can only walk through the Gate AFTER they graduate!)
I am so happy that I "toughed it out" that semester, because I have made the best friends anyone could ever asked for, enjoyed majority of my classes with a nerdy passion, and have thrown myself into the campus and my house's community! I have learned things that I could have never learned elsewhere, met professors I now consider mentors, and had experiences that never would've happened if I left. I am sociology major and while I love talking about issues surrounding class, race, gender, sexuality, etc., I also make sure to take classes outside of my comfort zone and get the most out of my Liberal Arts education. This semester I am taking a geology course called "Natural Disasters;" most days after class my brain hurts because science was never my forte, but I am learning a lot! |
