Thanksgiving break has us reflecting on our first semester as Syracuse students

This is some look-out-the-window-on-the-trip-home-while-listening-to-deep-music reflecting.

In August, everything changed in a matter of hours or days. We went from our hometown to a bustling campus, our friends from home to a completely new group of people, and we were each granted a clean slate to do whatever we wanted with. We learned so many new lessons and had so many experiences in the first few weeks of being at Syracuse, and as we travel away from campus for Thanksgiving break, we think back on it and think they’re worth sharing.

Once our families said their final goodbyes, the feeling of freedom flooded our bodies. We could do whatever our hearts desired whether it was go out and do crazy things all day or stay in our dorms and sleep all day. We managed our own schedules without having to really worry about the schedules of others.

But we have to admit, our freedom sometimes got to our head. We ate pizza once a day and ordered from Calios every time we went anywhere near Marshall Street. We learned that maybe a little bit of self discipline was necessary if mom or dad weren’t going to be there to do it for us.

Then with the first few months of college came meeting all kinds of new people. If you’re anything like me, you went from only being around a very specific group of people to every single type of person you can imagine, and sometimes meshing with the people was hard. In trying to work well and be with friends with them, we may have felt that we needed to change parts of ourselves or come across as someone we’re not. This was not the solution, however, as the best way to meet the right people for us was to stay true to ourselves. We kept this in mind as we formed our friend groups and met those we knew we would stick with.

A solid friend group means everything

These new kinds of people formed a campus that many of us were not exactly used to: a passionate, dedicated, caring student body that was ready to take on the world. Being part of such a campus was an incredible thing to experience for the first time, when seeing people who devote not only their entire college career but also lives to making a difference and sticking with their peers. We felt important to be a Syracuse student, and valued. We felt powerful and capable of anything as we learned new things through our classes and professors, and we really took on what it meant to be Orange.

As college freshmen straight out of high school, we figured college courses would be harder, as anyone would. So we went about syllabus week with high expectations and were caught off guard by many surprisingly easy work-loads. So we let out a deep breathe and did what every other college freshman in the world does: we shrugged it off and gave it less thought than we gave our social lives. And there’s where we made a mistake. College is not what it seems, and even the easiest classes need some time and attention. The first 1 or 2 weeks was a reality check that college was indeed to be taken seriously, especially if we expect to excel at a university like Syracuse.

We have all been there. Multiple times.

As the semester progressed, and as we were enjoying our time as college students, we slowly started to miss parts of what we left behind. It could have been our friends, family, our bed, good food, anything. Though we were falling in love with Syracuse more and more each day some of us began to count down the days until we reached home.

And now that we’re away from Syracuse, we miss that too. As we look back, we realize that Syracuse is our home away from home, somewhere where we belong and are appreciated, where we can be ourselves and create our own experiences. We realize that we can’t wait to get back and be Orange for a little while longer before winter break.

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