Browning: How I survived my first year of college

Coming to the University of Toledo last year was the biggest and best change of my life. Because I am from the small town of Urbana, Ohio with a graduating class of 133 people, you could say I was definitely shell-shocked when I arrived. Walking into my first lecture hall class was extremely terrifying because the class was so big and intimidating. I felt like a little fish in a huge pond trying to stay afloat with many of my classes.

Walking around campus the first couple of days during “Welcome Week” and getting familiar with the buildings helped ease my nerves for the first day of class. Walking across the bridges and through Centennial Mall was a beautiful experience. Looking at all the buildings and the architecture through campus was so breathtaking. I never thought I would attend such a beautiful college, especially in Toledo. I was now able to relax and not worry about where my classes were; I timed how long it took to get to each building from my dorm. Knowing how long the walk was to each class and where they were definitely settled my nerves. I was going around with my phone taking every path I could think of and timing to see how long it would take and I even added time just in case I was stuck behind slow walkers.

What really helped me settle in and actually like being away from home was being close to everyone on the fourth floor at Parks Tower where I lived. Everyone was extremely welcoming to being friends with the whole floor. Each person became part of a family in a way; the guys and girls were all very close. The resident advisors always had event nights such as: game or movie nights and my floor was the only one that had almost every resident attend all these event nights and attend football games together.

I not only made friends with the people I lived close to, but also with people in my classes. Lecture hall classes may make it a little hard to make friends, but recitation classes such as foreign language and communications classes are usually smaller and that is where everyone talks to one another.

When I would be really bored and on the verge of falling asleep I would make a comment to someone next to me to get a conversation started. Every time I did that I ended up making a new friend.

In my Spanish class I met many people who lived in the same dorm as me and we all became close friends. It was really weird how we all figured out we lived in Parks. I was complaining about a certain RA and everyone else had the same opinion as I did and we found out we lived only a floor or two apart from each other.

When professors mention group assignments my heart always skips a beat because I hate being forced to talk with people I don’t know. In high school, even though I knew people for years, I was still extremely shy to talk to people that were not in my circle of friends. I hate the awkward stage of talking to new people, but as you talk you figure out that people share the same interests as you do and friendships formed that would have otherwise been lost.

Making friends with people in your major or classes freshman year makes it extremely beneficial for you in the future. Each year you will find that you will see the same people because you share the same major and will be going through the same program. It helps in the long run because some assignments may be tough, and having friends in the same field as you will benefit you.

I couldn’t imagine myself at any other university because the friends and opportunities I have wouldn’t have happened at another college.

Talore Browning is a second-year majoring in communication.