Semester Reflections

Semester 1

My first semester in college has been a good one! Life on campus has been great so far, though I’ve had to make a lot of adjustments relating to my schedule and habits. It’s been nice to be more active – walking everywhere is great and the gym is right next to Bel Air. I’ve still gone back home a good number of times, so I haven’t really been homesick much.

My overall workload this semester has been manageable. I finally feel like I can live a little instead of being swamped all the time like I was with work, school, and other obligations throughout high school and last summer. I spent a lot of time writing my big papers and doing research on my topic for English 101, but I think I’ve learned a lot from that. The number of credits I’m taking seems to be sustainable for the future – I’ll add more as time goes on and I get more used to life here. I’ve developed some good study habits and learning skills that I’ll be sure to transfer to classes in the future.

Honestly, I imagined the Arts Scholars program to be a lot more hands on. This semester seemed like it was a bit repetitive and there was some busy work. I really enjoyed the field trip and the visitors that we had, and I hope we’ll be able to do more of those sorts of activities. I did like the Craft and Chats a lot – they were super cute.

The most impactful thing for me was the Vogue dancing workshop we did. I have never been a dancer, so it really pushed me out of my comfort zone. It was nice to be able to combine two of the things I like to do (music and exercise), but I don’t really know if it’s for me. It was still very interesting to experience and learn about the culture surrounding Vogue dancing, though, and I really enjoyed the workshop. In the future, I will try to step out of my comfort zone more, take more risks, and not be afraid of what people may think of me.

The biggest challenge this semester was making connections – especially in the first half of the semester. I am a very social person who likes to spend time with the people I love, but suddenly I had only one friend (my roommate – I think he’s the only thing that kept me sane). I think it just took a while for people in the dorm and program to warm up to each other. Now it’s a lot more fun. I think next semester I will try and join more clubs so I can meet people like me.

As I stated before, the Vogue dancing workshop really brought me out of my comfort zone. I didn’t like that we were being photographed, since I feel like that kind of makes it harder to create a space where people don’t feel judged or watched. However, it was still a good experience, and it pushed me further out of my comfort zone than I have been in a while. This helped me to loosen up a bit, and I feel more confident in taking risks now.

Overall, I feel like I didn’t really have many expectations about the Arts Scholars program at the beginning of the semester. I assumed it would be easier than it was to make connections – it’s super hard to make and keep friends! This semester, I have put a lot of effort into trying to take care of myself and to live a healthy lifestyle because I’ve neglected that in the past and I want my life to be full of fun experiences with my friends – not just stress and work. I assumed it would be a lot easier to take care of myself properly than it is as well. These simple things that I took for granted have pushed me to pay more attention to things that may seem easy at first. Also, I’m grateful that the Art Scholars program has allowed me to continue making art – even if I don’t feel like it. Art has been associated with work for so long that I need to find the enjoyment that I used to have again. I hope in the future, this program will help me with that journey. I expect that art will always be a part of my life, but I have to put in the effort for that to happen.