It’s crazy to think that I’ve just about finished my first semester at OU. I still have weird depersonalization moments when I remember that I’m not in Texas anymore, that I’m far away from my mom, dad, sister, boyfriend, dogs, and everyone that I was familiar with throughout the last eight years of my life, that the people I spend hours on end laughing with are people I’ve only met a few months ago.
Aside from those moments of disbelief, I’m really, really happy here. I’m happy in my classes, even when they’re difficult, and I’m happy to be living in Oklahoma. Now that I’m here, I can’t imagine being anywhere else. I feel very cliche writing all this, but it really has been an excellent semester.
More specifically, I did enjoy this class. Becoming Globally Engaged offered me a lot of time and opportunities to think about how I’m going to handle my study abroad experiences and what to consider before I begin my travels. I especially loved making my digital story. I dreaded it at first, because I didn’t want to have to hear my own voice and I was nervous about presenting to the class, but I’m very happy with the final product.
Over this semester, I think I’ve learned about myself quite a bit. I know now that I’m happy to be surrounded with people, but I’ve also learned to be comfortable spending time by myself. I know that I need to give myself more time to prepare for exams–zoology taught me that pretty quickly. I know how much I need to study to be successful, and I know that I need to say no to extra commitments sometimes. I’m happy to be discovering all this about myself, and I’m looking forward to continuing to grow throughout my time here at OU.
Next semester, I aim to manage my time just a little better and study just a little harder. I’m going to be taking some hard classes next semester–I’m mainly worried about Spanish composition and calculus II–and I don’t want to let any of them slip through the cracks. I’m also going to be the online editor at the Daily next semester, which is going to be crazy and maybe a little scary but definitely fun and definitely worthwhile. I want to learn as much as I can and do the best that I can, at the Daily and otherwise.
