Well y’all, I did it! My freshman year of college is officially complete. Say whaaat?!
Maybe you have been following along on my freshman year journey via this blog or my Instagram or through our text convos & Facetimes & phone calls. Or maybe this is your first time ever hearing my name & reading anything about me! Either way, I am SO excited to share some of the things I’ve learned this year with you.
The word “freshman” almost always comes with connotations of newness; of being the rookie and not quite knowing what is to come in the journey you’re entering into. For me this past year, the word “freshman” meant completely life-changing experiences and changes. For one, I moved out of the suburbia of Chicago to this super different world known as the state of Texas. Never before had I lived anywhere other than the Chicagoland area, so this move was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I had to learn new roads and new slang and an entirely new culture. I slowly but surely incorporated “y’all” into my vocabulary. I learned what it means to “starch” your denim (if you don’t know what this means, take a brief pause from reading this and Google it. It is quite interesting!). I learned how to line dance and how to rock some cowgirl boots.
Being a freshman meant stepping into a new environment with completely new people. For me, the experience of meeting new people constantly was exciting and exhilarating. I absolutely LOVE talking to new people, and if you know me, you know that I love asking questions and getting to know people. It was so fun for me to start from the absolute ground up when building relationships with people who know nothing about you. We got to talk about our childhoods & our high schools & our biggest fears & mistakes we’ve made & everything in between. I met lifelong friends my freshman year; the people who will be in my wedding and will be aunties to my babies one day. These people were truly a gift from God to me. Through classes & the most random interactions, I met some of the most incredible people in my life. Through my sorority, I met sisters who love hard & laugh often & have shaped me into a better version of myself this year. I met professors and mentors and people who have encouraged me to grow and develop in leadership and in my dreams. I also met my big, Victoria, who has impacted my life in more ways than I can count! Victoria is what I think of when I think of someone who lives her life to honor Jesus. She has helped me grow in my faith, become a more intentional person in all my relationships, and is the big sister God knew I needed. I am so grateful for all the adventures & coffee shops & church dates & deep conversations we shared together this year. She is the most thoughtful person I have ever known. I love you so much, V! And to all of my friends I have met this year: thank you for loving me so well and being just downright awesome. I love you girls more than words can describe.
Being a freshman also meant living with a non-family member for the first time in my life. And boy, oh boy, did God bless me here. Elena, if you’re reading this, I love you with my whole heart and am so grateful that you were my roomie this past year. Elena and I met on the TCU Roommate Facebook group and decided to become roommates after I sent Elena a list of numbered questions about herself and her living habits. LOL. We now look back and laugh until our abs hurt looking at that list of questions, because it is so typical me. Honestly, had it not been for becoming roommates, we may have never met one another. We are so different in so many ways yet we perfectly complemented each other and brought out new and better sides of ourselves that we didn’t even know were there. God knew we needed one another this past year. I can’t express how grateful I am for all the late night talks & worship music jam sessions & singing (maybe more like screaming) at all hours of the evening to the Justin Bieber My World 2.0 or A Star is Born soundtracks. If you know me well, like really well, you know that I can be downright silly sometimes, and Elena was my partner in crime, laughing about the goofiest things with me that no one else quite understood. Elena, I LOVE YOU! Thank you for being one of my bestest friends and the most amazing person to experience freshman year alongside. Thank you for teaching me the Cali ways and for helping me to just relax and let go of my to-do lists sometimes. You are such a gift to me.
I want to be real with you guys though… freshman year, though absolutely amazing, was not always a piece of cake. There were hard days. There were some days when I would call my mom, painfully homesick, begging her to come down to see me as the tears streamed down my face. You see, for 18 years of my life, I had lived at home, constantly surrounded by my safe people, my family. I knew that no matter what hard or uncomfortable situation I was dealing with, I could always come back home to my cozy ranch home and feel the comfort of having my mom and sisters by my side. But college meant a change to this normal of mine, and there were times where it was tough. And I know many of you were probably scrolling through Instagram the past couple weeks wondering how it could be possible for absolutely everyone who posted a slideshow of freshman year photos to have the absolutely perfect year. I want you to hear this: no one’s year was perfect. If life was perfect, God couldn’t work fully in our lives to change and develop and grow us. So if you find yourself wondering why you maybe had such a tough year and others didn’t have a single. dang. struggle: please remind yourself that Insta is a highlight reel, not a reality reel. We all had hard things happen & I promise you, your struggles and hurts from this year are being used to shape you into the strongest, most perseverant version of yourself!
Now, how did I grow this year? For one, God used those moments where I felt lonely being away from my family to remind me that He is always with me, no matter where I go. I learned how to step waaaaaay out of my comfort zone & put myself out there. TCU brought me some of the most incredible relationships and people I have ever known, and many of these relationships formed because I took a chance and asked someone new to grab coffee or tag along with a group to dinner. God worked in softening my heart and revealing a new gentleness towards myself & others. I stopped caring too much about what anyone other than God & the people I love and respect think or say about me. I worked on becoming a lot more thoughtful and intentional in my relationships. I spent a lot of time in self reflection, recognizing how to continue growing my strengths and working on my weaknesses. I learned what it means to trust fully in God’s plan for my life. I became a lot more spontaneous and a lot less rigid in following a perfectly structured regimen for every single one of my days (yes, I was like this before college…). Exhibit A of this newfound spontaneity was when I got to surprise my family on a Tuesday/Wednesday (yes, you read that right…SCHOOL DAYS!) with a short trip home for my sister’s birthday this past March. I recognized the types of people I want to be surrounding myself with and worked to spend time with loving, positive, kind, and genuine people who lift me up and challenge me to be a better version of myself.
Freshman year: thank you x a million. You were so much bigger & better than anything I could have ever dreamed of. I am so overwhelmingly grateful for this year & excited for the next! Life is so good, y’all. Let’s keep soaking it all up & recognizing that there are always amazing things to be grateful for in each & every season!
Always,
Elle
P.S. Here are some highlight pics from second semester 🙂
