With the exception of final exams and projects, my freshman year at Stevens is pretty much over. As I type this, it is a little hard to believe. Not just because my school year is ending a month earlier than it has for the past 13 years, but also because it has been so wildly different from anything I have ever experienced up to this point.
This column is called Mind of a Freshman. The intended purpose is to give a freshman (or two) a place to voice literally whatever they want about their first year at Stevens. Now that I am at the end of my first year, I would like to run down some last few thoughts that I have had over the last couple of months that never made it into one of my articles for one reason or another.
False Spring:
I just want to enjoy one week without it going below freezing. Seriously, this isn’t my first time with turbulent weather, but it certainly has been the worst. I went from wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt one day to having on sweatpants and my winter coat the next. I planned on writing a full article on this, but it came off as a 600-word rant, and I scrapped it.
Going Home:
I’m from Pennsylvania. It’s about a three and a half hour drive to get back home, and I do not have a car here. So, over the past two semesters, I have only gone home four times: fall break, Thanksgiving break, winter break, and spring break. Something I’ve noticed, being here for almost every weekend, is that for all the people “living” on campus, they sure do go home a lot. Now I get that going home is nice, but isn’t the whole point of college to grow as a person and learn how to live on your own? Going home every single weekend completely defeats the purpose. For those who go home frequently, I implore you to stay a weekend and just relax. Walk around Hoboken, sit in a park, or clean your dorm. Just enjoy what college and this area have to offer, and learn to live on your own.
Yes I Know My Major is Easier:
I am a Music and Tech major. My schedule is significantly lighter than an engineer or Computer Science major. Especially since because of switching, I am going a couple classes out of order. But for the love of all that is holy, I am a person too; I am allowed to complain about a class or two. We all have bad weeks sometimes, but just because I’m not taking Differential Equations or Thermodynamics classes does not mean I don’t have the right to complain about a bad assignment or rough test. So, for all the engineers who have a friend in the arts, they are human too. They have bad weeks just like you. Treat them as such.
This column has been so much fun to write over the last couple of months. Not all of my articles have been great, but I enjoyed writing each and every one of them, regardless of who read them. Hopefully, I’ll be back next year writing for a different column, but if not, it’s been fun. I’ve survived one year at Stevens so far. Three to go.
