Lowlights Reel

I have whiplash…that school year went by so fast.

The idea that I’m a college sophomore is simultaneously awesome and preposterous.

Rather than a highlights reel, I’m opting to give a lowlights reel, if you will, a list of experiences this year that weren’t particularly phenomenal or unique, but still important to my fulfilling first year at Holy Cross.

1. I pulled some all-nighters. I’ll admit it, I like activities A LOT and sometimes I just don’t know how to say “no.” Time management isn’t always enough, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day…so I turned to night! And spent long hours in Dinand with fellow all-nighters, and none of us were ashamed. We were working hard on things we found important, and it is a quite gratifying feeling to walk out the doors of the library in the early morning holding a finished project. CAUTION: This is not a recommendation. Sleep is great. (But all nighters did teach me things.)

2. I cleaned and put away hundreds of Kimball’s dishes. Many first-year students work in Kimball, and although the work of cleaning kitchenware can be pretty mundane, talking, dancing, singing, and laughing with kimball captains and other workers made it worthwhile. So much goes into feeding a campus of students, and it was grounding to be a cog in that massive machine.

3. I learned a TON of acronyms. SGA, CAB, BSU, LASO, HEAL, OSI, SPUD, COPE, CASA, DESI, FLAs,  the list goes on. It can be overwhelming to enter into a community that has its own established jargon, especially when you have to essentially rely on experiential learning. I’m pretty amped that I’ve made progress on this venture. Probably should have been the top lowlight (oxymoron?)

4. I wrote a lot of letters. It can be hard to keep in touch with people when caught up in the variety of life at Holy Cross. Snail mail became a friend of mine–the slowness of that communication was something I could keep up with, and, I know it sounds corny, but something about it felt genuine and beautiful. Bottom line: 10/10 for USPS. Beware of stamp expenditures, though.

5. I realized my own privilege. After stumbling my way through the first few months of school and basically focusing exclusively on myself and adjustment, I realized  that I was settling into a schedule at my new home–AN AWESOME HOME. Holy Cross is a truly great place, and to say that I’m lucky to be a student at HC would be an understatement. I can’t wait to continue to try to make the most out of my time here as a Sophomore.

Happy Summer & DFTBA

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