Done with the First Week of School

Surprisingly, these first 5 days of school felt like the first 5 months of school! I have been doing a lot of things and have not had the chance to relax yet, so this Labor Day weekend will be quite needed! Everyday, I have at least 3 classes if I have a gap time, I come in for work. Since I am president of VSA, there’s also a lot of responsibilities I have to manage internally and externally. To say in the least, I am being very productive already!

_______________________________________________________

The first week of school is quite exciting, especially for the new freshman student who are beginning their first days of college class. For other upperclassmen, such as myself, the excitement sometimes fades away because we know what to expect and are comfortable with the school. For the freshman, it is the prime time for them to socialize and finally experience the meaning of independence. For some, this means that students have to learn how to take care of themselves like by doing laundry, buying food, paying for phone bills, and acquire skills such as time management, responsibility, prioritizing, and thinking ahead. All of these things and more are little steps in which students form a stable foundation for life after Loyola AKA adult life.

Take advantage of your undergraduate years here at Loyola because this school allows you to continuously mold and reshape yourself in a safe and supportive environment. Here, we have safe spaces for you to voice out your opinions, clubs you can join to be active in a certain area, and so much more. 4 years here will allow you to find your identity, form connections, and grow as a student as well as a decent human being. Use this opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them because you can only learn from those mishaps! Once you finish your time at Loyola and walk away with pomp and circumstance, you officially enter adult life.

This isn’t meant to scare people! Alas, this is meant for people to consider and take into account when attending Loyola University Chicago. My advice would be for these new freshman to enjoy their time, use (EXHAUST) all the resources Loyola has to offer, and not worry about “adult life” until a couple more years. Slowly but surely, those small skills such as organizing task for the week and paying bills on time will come handy for the future. Then, “adult-ing” won’t be so surprising or hard.

Nevertheless, I am 21 and what can I really say…? These are only my views of college developmental psychology. I am nearing the end of my time at this point, but there are tons and tons of other things to prepare and look forward to, even after college. With that being said, my fellow freshmen or prospective students, go out and enjoy Loyola! You will have a great time here, so please take advantage of that!