Anna-Catherine Kueng ~ Assistant Editor
During each semester, it is inevitable that I end up writing an article about change; but, how could I not? So many things are different from year to year, especially as a college student.
For example, last year at this time, I was in Spanish 102, and now I have completed my foreign language requirement. At the end of this semester, I will be halfway done with college. Next week, I turn twenty years old. It feels like just yesterday I was an 18-year-old at Cracker Barrel dreaming about everything I have now, not knowing what college would be like.
Even with the start of the new year, things are different. Since starting at UL, I stayed up until 12 a.m. almost every night doing homework, including last semester, and I hated salad. Now, I have been going to bed by 10:30 p.m. or 11 p.m. every night and I eat salad at least three times a week.
On the other hand, it is funny to look at how some things have not changed. I have the same best friend and our relationship is just like it was last year: full of laughing, crying from stress, going to English classes together, and counting down the days until the semester is over. Also, the campus is just as beautiful as it was when I first saw it in 2017.
Sometimes in life, people are scared of change, and it is a valid fear. Change can be bad. Loved ones pass away, you can lose your job, and the list of negative things goes on. But, change can also be a beautiful thing, like meeting the love of your life, becoming a parent, or getting your dream job.
When I started college in August of 2018, my life was one way; but, when I finish it, God-willing, in 2022, my life will be a different way. Even as a sophomore, I can tell how much growth I have had through what I have gone through in the past few semesters of college.
I am more confident, smarter, slightly less of a worrier, and in better physical shape than when I started college. Things that used to seem impossible when I was younger and much easier to endure now. I have made new friends, met new professors, and discovered things I never knew I liked (salad).
Next year at this time, as a second-semester junior, I know I will have already undergone more change. Sometimes it feels like days drag on, while on the other hand, I wish life could just slow down for a day.
Whatever season you are in, whether good or bad, embrace it because it will not always be like that.
As A.A. Milne wrote, “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”