Learning How to Be a “New” College Student…1,000 miles away.
For every college Freshman, one of the hardest things to do is finally leave their hometown, their friends, and their parents that raised them for the past 18 years. In some ways more than others, we all find those moments where we might miss our dog at home, the Friday Night Football Games, and even the early morning Dunkin’ Donuts’ stops before rushing to our first period English class. Although, no college Freshman can predict on their very first day of classes that they will be at a different school the next year, let alone, being over 1,000 miles away from home.
As an incoming college Freshman, I was set on a swimming scholarship at my brand new University. Only being four hours away from home, I knew I always had the option to get away for a weekend if I could ever find the time away from practice. It’s definitely an overwhelming feeling-ya know, going from having your own bedroom to having to share a dorm room and communal bathroom with complete strangers. It’s a crazy situation us kids are thrown into so suddenly, but we adapt, learn, and try our best to introduce ourselves to the other freshman without coming off as being that weird new kid.
The beauty of going into college as an athlete, although, is having your teammates by your side. You’ve already met the upperclassmen on your new team, you know the coaches, and the new group of freshman you get to be with are going to be going through it together and learning the new normal. It’s an exciting time in your life to have the opportunity to be put into a situation you have been dreaming for since ten years old, but, do you ever have a plan B if that goes wrong? I don’t think anyone really does.
I never realized how serious my injury actually was until time went by and my knee just kept getting bigger. At the start of my Freshman season, I found that I had a hole in my kneecap and had to get surgery (eventually a second one just a few months later). Many people subtly tried to let me know, telling me how much physical work it was going to take to get back to normal and be an even better athlete physically than before. I knew this to be true, but I don’t think anyone can imagine how hard it actually is until they go through the experience itself. After going through it twice, I don’t wish it upon anyone, especially battle of walking on crutches across a college campus five times a day. I put a lot of dedication into my daily rehab at the trainers. A lot of people may not realize it, but getting injured as a college athlete and trying your best to get physically better requires just as much mental focus and physical dedication as it does to be a fully healthy one.
After getting through the first knee surgery and hours of time spent trying to get healthier all while trying to balance a full college course load, I didn’t find my knee getting much better. Come to realize a few weeks later down the line I had to get yet another knee surgery-lucky me, more work! At this point, I knew my body was telling me it was time to stop trying to get back in the water. I knew it was the right signs, I just refused to listen because I was all too driven to prove to myself that I could do it. After realizing that was the decision I had to make, I knew it would be too difficult to watch my teammates do it without me-the sport I loved forever without me in it? I couldn’t sit around and watch. It was time to focus on my academics and what I was truly passionate about rather than just swimming.
I ended up applying to many different schools, getting into most of them, but in the age of COVID-19 where traveling was unsafe, it was tough trying to make a decision when I hadn’t even seen any of the campuses in person. Lucky for me, I had a few friends at almost every University I was accepted to, so I was able to at least get some sort of perspective from the students. Ultimately, I discussed the decision more times than I can remember with my parents and finally chose the University of Tampa. As a kid coming from a small town in New England, I was obviously extatic about getting to go to school in Florida. The one problem I really had to consider now is packing as little as I could, especially because I had to hop on a two plus hour plane ride to get to and from school now. It was a big change both in atmosphere and in my education, but I was excited for change after solely focusing on knee rehabilitation for practically an entire year.
Once I stepped on campus, it was both exciting and a little strange. I was a Sophomore, a lot of people already knew each other whereas I didn’t really know too many people and felt slightly out of place. As a person, I have always been known to be super outgoing, but I always got shy around new people. What really helped was that despite going to school so far in the South, most of us grew up in New England or around it. As school started up, it wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world since the pandemic was still in full force; although, I decided I needed to embrace the downtime I had to figure out what made me happy in such a weird time and new place.
As I started my classes, I was focused on setting myself up for success for the rest of the semester so I didn’t ever worry about falling behind: so, I came up with a plan. Most of my classes were on Monday’s and Tuesday’s where every assignment for the week was announced and listed on our syllabus. Once I ended class in the late morning, I made sure to fully charge my laptop and head over to Starbucks across campus and work there until I got about 50-75% of my assignments for the week done. To my credit, this system ended up actually working since I got so much freetime by the end of the week, and eventually, a 4.0 GPA.
By September, I was pretty comfortable where I was with academics, but I knew I needed to put myself out there and meet more people. Thankfully, I had a few classes in person sometimes, one of them being my Transfer Seminar where it was a class solely filled with Sophomore Transfer students. Although, this just wasn’t enough for my social being, so I decided to sign up to rush for a sorority. Never in my life did I ever think I would be apart of Greek Life since I was always focused on being an athlete-although, my life was changing, and I just had to accept the change and go along with it.
I’m not going to lie…I was extremely nervous going through the whole virtual rush process since I knew absolutely no one and nor had I ever had to go through something like that before. I always heard horror stories from girls that they got dropped all together or didn’t get the sorority they wanted to be in…this didn’t bother me all that much, because I knew whatever happened was the way it was meant to be. To my surprise, my new University had an Alpha Chi Omega chapter, the sorority I had some friends in at my old school. To my luck, everything worked out and I was a new member of Alpha Chi Omega Class!
After joining the sorority, my life was full speed ahead. Whether us girls were doing a zoom call on a Wednesday night or social distancing and meeting one another on campus, I was meeting so many different people. At first I was pretty shy meeting these new girls, but I just naturally fell into friendships with these girls and was able to be myself. In this case, I should say my newer self; I always found “student-athlete” apart of my identity, but now, I was just Shannon. I never expected to meet so many wonderful girls in not just my sorority, but others on campus as well, and even my closest and best friend…to be honest, I have never met anyone more like me than her.
All in all, I have to say my first semester was a success. Despite the whole pandemic thing, I can confidently say that I found my rightful place. By stepping into a new light and allowing others to get to know me, I just naturally fell into the comfort of being myself and navigating what I actually enjoyed doing. I enjoy making other people happy and bringing a bright and smiling face to other people-so I joined a sorority! I even plan on getting much more involved when I get back next semester, which I’m honestly so excited about!
After writing this, I feel like there’s a lot that HAS to be summed up for transferring to a brand new school so far away; but honestly, it’s a lot less complicated than many might think it would have been. If there is one takeaway I could mention from my experience, it certainly has to be embracing the change and letting life hit you with challenges and opportunities. I know that might sound corny, but by trusting life as it comes at you and trusting your gut to figure out what you truly enjoy, things will come easily after. If I decided to stay in my own shell without putting myself out there as a person, I definitely would not have had the experience that I had. Overall, I ended up doing the best I have ever done in school and feeling the happiest both physically and mentally. It’s never too late or too risky to make a decision for yourself, it’s all about what you allow life to throw at you and how you choose to navigate through it.
- Shannon
