A love letter to first semester…
Wow. Where do I even start?! First off, thank you God for bringing me to TCU. It truly is the most incredible place & I am so grateful to be on such an encouraging, beautiful, & loving campus. I am truly so blessed.
If you read my first ever blog post, you know that I was so excited this past summer to start my next chapter at a southern school with an abundance of “y’alls” and a whole lot of new people & places to meet & explore.
But boy, oh boy— if only I knew then how much more amazing my first semester would be than I could have ever imagined.
I came to TCU like any other nervous freshman: super excited & ready for all the new experiences & people, but also a bit anxious. Would I meet those lifelong friends that I see so many people find? Will I know exactly what I want to major in right away & have my career path completely figured out? (There goes that type-A personality…) Will my roommate & I get along & be friends? How am I going to do being so far from home & my family?
Flashback to August 8th, 2018: my mom & I walked onto the TCU campus for move-in day, boxes full of The Container Store/Pottery Barn/Bed Bath & Beyond purchases, an abundance of purple suitcases filled with rush outfits & LuluLemon & shoes in tow. (The DSW addiction is real, y’all. @DSW, please stop sending such great coupons, I beg of you. My bank account & I thank you in advance.) All my journals & photos & Bible & keepsakes carefully wrapped, ready to be unpacked in my new space. The nerves were real. Was I really going to be a freshman in COLLEGE?! Time seemed to fly by.
The next day, my mom left to head back home to Chicago. After a tear-filled goodbye, I headed back to my room to get settled in. I vividly remember sitting on my new dorm bed, praying that I would be able to find life-giving new friendships & an uplifting community & people who would help me to grow in my faith and in how I live it out. Praying that I would be guided to a career path that I loved & that brought value and meaning to this world. And honestly, praying that I would just be okay. Okay being far from home; okay with the possibility of feeling lonely for a bit, if I didn’t find those “life-long friends” right away. Because the truth is that sometimes the most beautiful relationships take time to develop, and I want to be content throughout the wait.
A week later, after all of the rush craziness & fun, I received my bid card for Kappa Alpha Theta, which has been one of the biggest blessings to me thus far. Theta has introduced me to some of the kindest, most driven, fun, smart, & loving girls I have ever met. Both in & out of Theta, I have met the most incredible people, and it is so clear to me that God has used my first semester to answer a prayer I so long desired to be fulfilled during my time in college. Here is snapshot of my journal from the morning of bid day:
I have met friends who build each other up, who guide me to live more like Jesus– more kind, loving, selfless, and humble. None of us are perfect, and we are inevitably going to hurt and disappoint one another. But what makes Christ-centered friends so special is that the foundation of our relationship is on helping one another laugh & love & live more like Him.
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I know that not everyone has the same first semester experience, and if you find yourself in those shoes, I want to encourage you with this:
Sometimes God uses tough seasons to grow the people He knows are strongest; the ones who will use the tough season to grow & learn & fully trust in Him. If you read my blog post on family, you’d know that I went through an extremely difficult season starting at age 13 when my parents got divorced. Little 13 year old me thought there would never be a light at the end of the tunnel, and I wish I could go back in time to give her the biggest hug & let her know that this season of pain & heartbreak would be later used to help encourage people that God is working even in the messiness that life throws our way sometimes. God is using you to be a testimony of strength and perseverance.
Take it day by day. Breath by breath. Even minute by minute, if the days seem long. Be intentional about surrounding yourself with life-giving, joyful, kind people. Community is everything, & I think part of what has made my first semester so awesome (far from perfect, but sure as heck awesome), is that I came to TCU looking for these kinds of people. The kinds of people that rally behind you in the good & in the bad, in all the sweet moments & in the curveballs, too.
YOU GOT THIS! And the beautiful thing is that your joy does not need to be dependent on the state of your life right now. Find things to be grateful for amidst the hardship & I PROMISE, joy will overwhelm your heart, even on the days when your heart is weary & happiness seems like an increasingly distant possibility.
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First semester, thank you. You’ve been so much bigger & better than anything I could have ever dreamed of. Thank you for the sweetest new friendships, all the football fun, the weekend trips home, the Fort Worth adventures complete with car jam sessions, the late-night dance parties with my roomie, the laughs with my sweet hall-mates, the challenges that helped grow me, and all the moments in between.
…aaand now for the 1st semester pic recap! Cause if there weren’t pics, did it really happen?! 😉 Just kidding, of course— BUT, I thought it’d be fun to share some of my first semester highlights with you! Get ready for some pic overload hehe. 🙂
Always,
Elle
