My First Year As A UCF Knight

As many of you know, I recently finished my first year at the University of Central Florida. We always see what we want to see on Instagram, so I wanted to give a quick run down of how my first year in O-Town really went.

A year and a half ago I had no idea where I wanted to go to school or what I wanted to study when I got there, actually more realistically, I had so many ideas I just wasn't sure which one to follow. After only hearing about UCF a few times, and looking at a couple pictures, I quickly decided UCF was where I belonged. I applied and about a month later received my acceptance, and the rest is history.

After that it felt like I blinked and suddenly it was move-in weekend. My parents, big sister, and best friend all came along to help me move in, and most importantly keep me sane during this giant change in my life. Once it was time for my family to leave, things didn't stay so Snapchat worthy, about 5 seconds after my family finally left I burst out into tears, I was so excited for my college journey ahead but also terrified, I was attending one of the biggest universities in America and only knew a few people.

Luckily, of those few people 2 of them became my go to gals, we ended up spending so much time together throughout the year, always trying to find a place to call our new hangout spot. We spent many, many late nights in their apartment talking about life and what each of us had going on, we were each others support system and I am so grateful to have had that throughout my first year at college.

I always thought football games were a college staple, and UCF has a great football team so I knew I wanted to go to games, but my friends never wanted to, this is where I had to step out of my comfort zone, I only had my 2 friends but I really wanted to go to a game so finally I went to one and even though I didn't really know anyone there, it ended up being so much fun! You sit in a student section, so you're surrounded by a bunch of other students all cheering for the school too, plus it's always fun to see your school doing good at something. So you will definitely be finding me at more games this upcoming fall season!

While the life part of school-life balance was going great, the school side was a bit different. In high school, I was always an overachiever, always had amazing grades, and would absolutely never have a "B" grade in my classes. But college was a whole other game, it took a while to adjust to how things work so differently, and I certainly struggled all year with trying that whole school-life balance thing. I had points where I was sure I wouldn't pass a class, but I also learned how important it is to make an effort. In high school if you're not doing well in a class your teacher will typically reach out, in college if you aren't getting a concept or are worried about something you have to make the effort to go to office hours and email your professor, or else your questions will never be answered and your grades will suffer. I definitely had to learn this year that my best is all I can ask for and that might not always result in an "A".

In addition to struggling with my classes, I also struggled with what I truly wanted to major in, I officially changed my major a few times, and spent a lot of nights with friends talking about all the different things I wanted to do with my life, I also spent a few nights in my dorm room crying about my indecisiveness over my major, but by spring semester I realized I wanted to go into Event Management. And while I firmly believe in never saying never, I'm pretty confident this time my major will stick.

During spring semester I got a job, and made a few more friends, which while it certainly kept me more busy than fall semester, it was a bit more overwhelming trying to plan my life. If I wasn't in class, I was working, if I wasn't working, I was studying, if I wasn't studying, I was with friends, it seemed like I never had time to slow down and take it all in.

My first year of college was not what I expected it to be, it was messy, and stressful, but also so amazing, I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything. Don't expect college to be everything you see on social media, you'll be disappointed, after all we all show the world the very best parts of our lives and very rarely get real about the worst parts of it. Accept the mess and try to make the best of it, you'll cry, and you'll laugh, good days, and bad, but its what you do to make it yours that will make your college experience your own little adventure.