5.11.23 Goodbye Undergrad

 5.11.23

I don't think I'll be able to write and post quite so often as I go into the summer, though you'll get a series of at least three posts about my graduation trip this summer. But anyway- the point of this post, today was the first day of finals. I don't have any, I had a final paper for my history class (more on that later) and I just had to finish turning in class work for my art class. Because I don't have any finals I've had the chance to enjoy the weather outside, relax, and reflect on four years of undergraduate experience. 

I don't think that I'll be making a huge, long, in-depth post about each year- but I think a few highs and lows, maybe a few pieces of advice will be a nice way to wrap up and say goodbye to undergrad!

           My first year of college....was something. It definitely happened. I think everyone's first year (on campus especially) is their first chance to be an "adult" and their first chance to rebel. And boy did I rebel. There was a lot of legally not age-appropriate things going on, that I would not recommend.  It was totally an unhealthy coping mechanism for a lot of things I was dealing with and I am happy to day I have grown and put the effort in to develop better habits. I guess my first piece of advice:

• Use the mental health services that your school offers. Even if you only go once, just to talk about the shift from high school to college, it's a wonderful thing that's offered!

I was much more social than I was in high school and I really branched out and tried a lot of things. That's definitely something that a lot of people will tell you to do, but honestly I feel like it gave more of an opening for burn out to creep in. Or at least for my social battery to run out more often. I have so many numbers in my phone and people on snapchat who I never talked to beyond fall semester of my first year. 

Clubs can definitely be fun and fulfilling, I absolutely loved my time in clubs. And I could totally talk more about why I dropped out of them in a later post but for now lets leave it at- they served their purpose in my life and I had to go down a different road. Friends are super important to a school experience, I won't lie to you. BUT- here come's the second piece of advice:

• You will not stay friends with the same people the whole time. You are still growing a changing, its natural that you stop hanging out with some people. You will have friends you have lots in common with and friends that you only have one or two things in common with.

I had a pretty big friend group my first year and I really only talk to one or two of them consistently now. There were some major falling outs and there were some natural endings but the friends that I do have now are really the friends I need right now, and are the ones I can see myself still checking in with down the line. 

My first year was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic and the entirety of my second year was online. This was...hard. My GPA took a pretty hard hit and I had a really hard time staying focused. I started working and picking up a lot of extra hours at the same time so I was always really drained and just didn't want to put in a lot of effort. What really made it better was the fact that I was taking classes that I enjoyed. I was interested in the contact and I liked the professors who were teaching, so I did have some incentive to stay as on top of things as I could. This is where I learned something very important about myself, I don't do well doing work in the place that I live. 

• Figure out what environment works best for you to work in. When I'm at home I end up doing a lot of work at Starbucks and when I'm on campus its a toss up between the library and Barnes and Noble. I read somewhere that you should try to avoid doing work in bed because your brain will start associating your bed as a place to work rather than sleep; but what do I know really, I'm a history major not a psych major.

My junior year is when things really started to come together for me. My school did some funky things with our semester schedule that threw me off a bit, but I was making my way through the last of my gen.-ed. credits and getting ready to pick topics for my senior papers. This is where the most overstated and underrated tip comes in:

• Talk to your professors. Make sure you understand the content, do what you need to get the grade and pass the class. I was in my geology professors office like every other day in the lead up to the final product because I couldn't figure out what topic to pick, how to find data points, how to make a graph. This woman held my hand and helped me through. Keep a good working relationship with your professors and they will be willing to go the extra mile to help you; remember- a good professor wants you to pass the class, but they also want you to learn the material and get something out of it. 

This is also the year when I really started documenting my studying. I don't really know people in the study community but I feel like the longer I keep at it, the more people I get to know. I've had such a good time doing this so far and I hope that I can keep going with it for a long time.

Senior year...its been rough, its been wild, a lot of things have happened. A lot of people have been asking me how I feel about it and honestly? I don't really know. I'm ready to be done, this school has served it's purpose for me and I'm really excited about what's coming. 

This year I completed two undergraduate thesis papers and I'm proud of them. My history paper was rooted in medieval history and used the War of the Roses as a lens to examine political power that noble and royal women were able to exercise in the late medieval period. A mouthful- but I really loved the topic. My art history topic ended up being Hans Holbein the Younger and plague art as a social commentary. It really sparked an interest in plague art and the more macabre side of history and art. I did start with a different topic: Identifying Venus in Art, looking especially at the way that she's evolved mythologically and how art reflects that. I am still super into that original topic but it just wasn't the right time for me to pursue that.  

I spent a bunch more time at my campus job and learned a lot about different jobs in the museum industry. I had a short class in the fall that covered a lot of issues with the museum world and with conservation. That is something I'd love to keep learning about and I'd love to put work into educating more people about these ongoing issues. I spent a lot of time learning about what I want to do in my professional life.

On a social note, I have a pretty small group of friends now. Only one of them are on campus, but I have been learning to appreciate and make the most out of alone time. It's honestly been a bit of a blessing to be living alone for the last semester. I have found a routine that works for me and figured out a balance of working and socializing that is best for me. I feel like senior year is when you really start to get a feel of who you might be in the "real" world, and I'm feeling pretty confident right now. My last, and biggest, piece of advice:

• Make sure you remember to take time for yourself. Take time to be on your own; have a self care night, go see a movie, take a nap. Do what you need to decompress and relax without a bunch of people around and without doing a bunch of homework. If you don't know how to be alone in a healthy way you might have trouble with it in the future. 

I had my ups and downs in the last four years but I think I gained a lot of experience from my school specifically and from the general undergraduate experience. I think in the future I will have more solid grasp on my feelings about the whole thing. However I feel about it, I have had a unique experience and I feel ready for whatever ends up coming my way. 

I have a few ideas for things that I want to talk about in future posts, and feel free if there's anything you'd like me to talk more about!

But until then, keep learning and exploring!

- Anne