SEMESTER ONE

CAMPUS 10/21

Picture taken on the walk back from doing ESJ one afternoon at sunset

DORM 8/28

My dorm room decorated from the first day of school, I had spent the past few weeks figuring out how to decorate it.

BREAKFAST 10/7

I slowly started to develop a routine living in the dorm, which involved making my favoite breakfast (oatmeal) in the dorm every morning.

GAMEDAY 10/26

Although tailgates were far from what they usually are, I was still excited to get to wear UMD spirit and take photos with friends.

FALL ON CAMPUS 11/5

One little thing I loved on campus was watching the leaves change colors all around campus, and seeing how beautiful the leaves made campus.

MILO 11/30

My family decided to adopt a labradoodle puppy, Milo, this fall. Definetly makes it easier to come home after spending months on campus.

NEW NORMAL 12/1

Back home after Thanksgiving Break did not mean that the work was over. Adjusting to the times means getting used to doing work with friends with masks on and socially distancing.

BACK HOME 12/3

The semester has come full circle, as I began setting up my bed in my dorm room, and am now back in my bed at home for the end of the semester and break.

Reflection

Life as a college freshman in 2020 has been anything but expected, which seems to the trend of the year as a whole for everyone. Before coming to college I idealized the perfect college experience, I was so excited to have a roommate, tailgate on gameday, and walk across campus to classes. As it came closer and closer to August, it became quite apparent that the experience I had dreamed up in my head of my first semester of UMD would be far from reality, yet I still chose to come to campus. Despite my reality being quite different from the expectations of the first semester of freshmen year of college, I had a great first semester and would not trade the experience for anything. I believe that even though the first semester was far from a normal semester, there are so many valuable experiences and important lessons to learn throughout the semester and the challenges that have come with it.

The first photo that I included in the photo essay is a picture of the campus, to set the scene for the majority of my fall semester. Despite the limitations, I chose to live on campus because I decided that I would rather have somewhat of a college experience of living on campus than none at all. With the nerves of beginning college in the middle of a pandemic, I moved into my freshman year dorm, which is seen in the next picture. I spent a lot of time over the summer preparing for what I wanted my dorm to look like since it would become my new home. Even something as mundane as choosing how I would decorate my dorm room was changed by the pandemic because as I would normally be moving into a room with a roommate, I was instead moving into my dorm room alone as UMD decided that all freshmen would be in singles. As I settled in for the semester on campus, I quickly realized that I would have to learn to appreciate the small moments of normalcy and make the most out of being on campus rather than compare my experience to a what could have been version of the semester I had created in my head. The next three photos in the photo essay show enjoying these moments, experiencing the changing leaves and fall on campus, dressing up for game day with new friends, and making my favorite breakfast in my dorm room.

Having to finish up the semester at home after Thanksgiving break has also been an adjustment. I have tried to implement the strategy of enjoying the little things on campus to transition that to finding little moments at home, which are pictured in the final three photos of the photo essay.

This semester has been far from easy, but it is an experience that I would not trade for anything and has made me even more excited for the rest of my time at the University of Maryland.