By Vanessa Shehu, Staff Writer
College: the word evokes images of thrilling adventures with new friends, independence, late nights in the library, and dining hall debates that never seem to last long enough. For many of us, first-year move-in day is a milestone. Throughout my prior school years, I wondered where I would end up attending college. My fifth-grade self imagined college move-in with excitement and embarrassingly overzealous romanticism. I imagined cheering students welcoming me in a parade, students cheering on sports teams, and a sunny campus. While the reality of my college move-in at Bryn Mawr was much subtler than I imagined, I am in awe of how quickly college arrived. Somehow, the distant day living in the back of my mind crept upon me. Six years from now became three years from now. Three years became three months. Three months is now a day in the past.
At Bryn Mawr and Haverford, the first-year experience began with Customs Week, an orientation period comprised of social gatherings, advising appointments, campus tours, and jam-packed assemblies. We learned to live with strangers-turned-friends and attempted to navigate college’s social arena. In my first few weeks, I felt displaced and unsure of where I fit into this new environment. Gradually, I have grown to feel at home again at Bryn Mawr. I will always remember Parade Night, my first Bryn Mawr tradition as my roommates and I ran to our dorm in the rain and drank hot tea to escape the cold.
Now, with the school year in full swing, first-years are learning how to adjust to the college workload. Imposter Syndrome leaves many of us feeling out of place and insecure. According to Bryn Mawr first-year Ziyu Wang, “The challenge has been to manage my time and to take advantage of all the opportunities, educational and career-based, at Bryn Mawr.” Haverford first-year and Paraguayan international student Kimberly Aguero describes the importance of her Bi-Co education, adding “My first year has been very challenging, especially because of the transition process to a new country.” To her international peers, Kimberly advises, “It is going to be hard. The food, the people, or the weather may be different. But you will learn and grow. Life is challenging and that is what Bryn Mawr and Haverford are preparing us for: the challenges of life.”
Like many of my peers, as I encounter and learn to manage my struggles, I have been reminding myself why I came to Bryn Mawr: to grow intellectually, to learn to thrive independently, and to expand my worldview. Raised in a family of Albanian immigrants, I grew up learning of the power in a college education. It was the gateway to a better life, to a respectable title, and for a ticket of fulfilled dreams. Amidst a communist regime, education was not a possibility for my family, and I vowed to use my privilege to somehow fulfill my ancestors’ dreams. My story began before I was born, and it challenges and invigorates me each day.
I share my story with all of you to encourage you to take college by storm. All of us should look at college as a new beginning. Amidst the stress and impending deadlines, it is important that we remember we came to college to grow not only as students but as people as well. Bridging the gap between adolescence and adulthood, these next four years are one-of-a-kind.
Photo by Sarah Gu
