Bonus: Reflection on Next Steps

November 21, 2022

For project 2, I have decided to do Scenario 1: Creative Writing. In the coming weeks, I plan to gather my artifacts first that I will include in the project. These artifacts will be from either my weekly reflections, beyond class activities, and journals most likely. I have gone to many on and off campus events that I believe will work nicely for this project. This past weekend, I organized my beyond class activities page on my e-portfolio, imported all of my images, and worked out that I only need one more academic activity to satisfy the requirements. Once that is completed, I will have all of the pages complete and then I can gather my artifacts. I will then create an Artifacts page on my e-portfolio, and then start drafting project 2. I imagine this will consist of a rough outline or draft of my letter. I also have to choose who I will write my letter to, which I have not decided yet. I’m hoping to have my first draft done and my artifacts page set up by early next week.

500-Word Draft

November 23, 2022

Dear Caroline, 

I am writing to you as a first year at the end of my first college semester. Looking back to when we were tiny Freshman together in high school, this Freshman experience was definitely a lot different. For starters, we don’t have our parents to hold our hands through everything and I am completely responsible for making sure I get everything done that I need to. Choosing a college in and of itself was an extremely hard decision for me, and for you too. I was so worried coming in, that I didn’t make the right choice, didn’t choose the right location, that I just chose wrong and I would have to transfer. Once I got here, I realized that I chose exactly right. It was hard to go from a comfy double bed all to myself to a tiny, top bunk, Twin XL bed. Other than being extremely cramped in our tiny room, me and my roommates clicked super well almost immediately. 

I am grateful that I was able to find friends that I trusted within the first few days because they made going from being home with you and other friends that I’ve known for years to an entirely new place with new people so much easier. Although I of course missed my friends from home and my family, I feel like I settled in here relatively easily. One thing that I immediately liked about UNE was all the events they put on to make the transition easier for students. For my Beyond Class Activity #8, I went apple picking where I met tons of new people. 

One thing that was really difficult for me this semester was being undeclared. You went into Elon University knowing what you wanted your major to be, with set classes that you were excited to take in Women and Gender Studies. I found it hard to not really have a goal to work towards and to have that expectation to choose a major out of dozens to have to choose from. After taking a couple science classes I realized that I did want to do Environmental Science, even though I’m not exactly sure what using that degree will look like. This problem is something that that I talk about in my Journal response #3, where I responded to David Epstein’s ideas about late specialization in the book Range. I was always a generalist growing up: I tried many different sports, subjects, and instruments, and that mentality followed me into college. I found it hard to specialize, or choose one subject to study. Now that I have declared a major I am very excited to see where it takes me next semester. The workload was also a huge adjustment for me. The sheer amount of studying that I had to do for exams was insane, and our high school really did not prepare us enough for that part of college.

Despite the workload being huge, the location of UNE definitely helped. Being right on the water was a lifesaver because whenever I was stressed or needed a reset, I was able to walk to the beach anytime and enjoy the ocean.

1,000-Word Draft

November 29, 2022

Dear Caroline, 

I am writing to you as a first year at the end of my first college semester. Looking back to when we were tiny Freshman together in high school, this Freshman experience was a lot different. You’re in college too down in North Carolina so I know you understand. For starters, we don’t have our parents to hold our hands through everything anymore and we are completely responsible for ourselves. We have to get all of our own work done independently, get our own meals, make our own appointments, and it feels like we are officially adults now. Choosing a college in and of itself was an extremely hard decision for me, and I know for you too. I was so worried coming in that I didn’t make the right choice, didn’t choose the right location, that I just chose the wrong college and I would have to transfer. Once I got here, I thankfully realized that I chose exactly right. One of the immediate adjustments was going from a comfy double bed at home that I had all to myself to a tiny, top bunk, Twin XL bed. Other than being extremely cramped in my tiny dorm room with two other people, my roommates and I seemed to click almost immediately and at the end of the semester, they are still some of my closest friends. 

I am grateful that I was able to find friends that I trusted within the first few days here at college. I was worried about entering a brand new place with all new people when I was so used to being at home with you and our other friends that I have known for years and was so comfortable with. It was definitely a challenge to start completely from scratch, to figure out who and where I fit in in an entirely new environment. Although I miss friends and family from home, I feel like I settled in here relatively easily. The people are really nice here and almost everyone I encountered was open to meeting new people. One thing that I immediately liked about UNE was all the events the school put on in the first couple months to make the transition from high school to college as painless as possible for students. One of these events that I attended was apple picking at a local apple orchard here in Maine. I talk about this in my Beyond Class Activity #8, and on this trip we took a bus inland where I picked apples, drank apple cider, ate donuts, and hung out with my friends for the day. This was an awesome activity because I met a lot of new people outside of my dorm. 

One thing that was very difficult for me this semester was being an undeclared student. You went into Elon University as a Women and Gender Studies major. I admired that you knew what you wanted to do, with set classes that you were excited to take. I found it hard to not have a set goal to work towards and to not have a plan set out for myself. There was always this expectation to choose a major out of dozens to choose from, even though I did have plenty of time to make a decision. After taking a couple college level science classes I realized that I did want to do Environmental Science which is the direction that I always thought I would go in. In my Journal response #3, I responded to David Epstein’s ideas about late specialization in his book Range. I was always a generalist growing up: I tried many different sports, subjects, and instruments, and that mentality followed me into college. I found it hard to specialize, or choose one subject to study because I enjoyed doing many different things. Even though I’m not exactly sure what using that degree will look like, I am very excited to see where the major leads next semester now that I have declared. 

The workload was also a huge adjustment for me. In high school, I think we both found it relatively easy to get by in our classes without having to put in a crazy amount of outside work. It’s totally different in college, as the sheer amount of studying that I have put in to pass my exams is insane. Our tiny high school really did not prepare us for that part of college. Despite the workload being huge, the location of UNE definitely helped me get through the first semester. Being right on the water was a lifesaver because whenever I was stressed or needed a reset, I was able to walk ten minutes across campus to the beach anytime and enjoy the ocean. I talk about this in my Week 7 Reflection. I know you chose Elon because it’s in a warm place down South, but I chose UNE partly because it is right on the ocean which is my favorite place to be. Everytime I visited the beach on campus I was reminded of summer when we would go to the beach or to the lake pretty much everyday with friends and hang out, go swimming, listen to music, and get smoothie bowls at the smoothie bus. One of my favorite memories at school was something I wrote about in my Week 2 Reflection, when I went to the Freddy Beach with a huge group of people and looked for shells, listened to music, tanned, and got to know the people here better.  One thing that I am super excited about next semester is the fact that I now have a car. Unfortunately because this school is pretty small and far away from most things to do, I felt somewhat trapped on campus without a car. This is something I talked about in my Week 13 Reflection. During that week I was able to visit home and see all of our friends which was amazing.

Final 1,250-Word Draft

December 1, 2022

Project 2: Creative Writing

Dear Caroline, 

I am writing to you as a first year at the end of my first college semester. Looking back to when we were tiny Freshmen together in high school, this Freshman experience was a lot different. You’re in college too down in North Carolina so I know you understand how different life has been for us these past few months. For starters, we don’t have our parents to hold our hands through everything anymore and we are completely responsible for our own lives. We have to get all of our work done independently, get our own meals, make our own appointments, and it feels like we are officially adults now. Choosing a college in and of itself was an extremely hard decision for me, and I know it was for you too. I was so worried coming in that I didn’t make the right choice, didn’t choose the right location, that I just chose the wrong college and that I would have to transfer. Once I got here, I thankfully realized that I chose exactly right. One of the immediate adjustments was going from my comfy double bed at home all to myself, to a tiny, top bunk, Twin XL bed. I was so accustomed to having my own space, plenty of privacy, and plenty of alone time at home. Now I live in a triple room which is the complete opposite of what I was used to. Here at college I am constantly surrounded by people, I have virtually no privacy, and if I want alone time I have to make it for myself. I don’t mind this most of the time because I like spending time with people, but it was definitely a hard transition. Other than being extremely cramped in my dorm room with two other people, my roommates and I seemed to click almost immediately and by the end of the semester, they are some of my closest friends. 

I am extremely grateful that I was able to find friends that I trusted within the first few days here at college. I was worried about entering a brand new place with new people when I was so used to being at home with you and our other friends that I have known for years and was comfortable with. It was a challenge to start completely from scratch, to figure out who and where I fit in a new environment. Although I miss friends and family from home, I feel like I settled in here relatively easily. The people are very nice here and almost everyone I encountered was open to meeting new people. One thing that I immediately liked about UNE was all the events the school put on in the first couple of months to make the transition from high school to college as painless as possible for students. One of these events that I attended was apple picking at a local apple orchard here in Maine. I talk about this in my Beyond Class Activity #8, and on this trip, we took a bus inland where I picked apples, drank apple cider, ate donuts, and hung out with my friends for the day. This was an awesome activity because I met a lot of new people outside of my dorm. 

One thing that was very difficult for me this semester was being an undeclared student. You went to Elon University as a Women and Gender Studies major. I admired that you knew what you wanted to do, with set classes that you were excited to take. I found it hard to not have a set goal to work towards and to not have a plan set out for myself. There was always this expectation to choose a major out of dozens of choices, even though I did have plenty of time to make a decision. After taking a couple of college-level science classes I realized that I did want to do Environmental Science which is the direction that I always thought I would go in. In my Journal response #3, I responded to David Epstein’s ideas about late specialization in his book Range. I was always a generalist growing up: I tried many different sports, subjects, and instruments, and that mentality followed me into college. I found it hard to specialize and choose one subject to study because I enjoyed doing many different things. Even though I’m not exactly sure what using that degree will look like, I am very excited to see where the major leads next semester now that I have declared. 

The workload was also a huge adjustment for me. In high school, I think we both found it relatively easy to get by in our classes without having to put in a crazy amount of outside work. It’s a lot different in college, as the sheer amount of studying that I have put in to pass my exams is insane. I also had to change my studying tactics to be able to learn more information faster so that I could keep up with my lectures. I couldn’t just breeze by, putting in the minimum effort if I wanted to pass my classes. Our tiny high school in New Hampshire truly did not prepare us for that part of college. Now that I have declared my major in Environmental Science I have a feeling the workload is going to continue to increase as time goes on. Despite the huge workload, the location of UNE helped me get through the first semester. Being right on the water was a lifesaver because whenever I was stressed or needed a reset, I would simply walk ten minutes across campus anytime and enjoy the ocean. I talk about this in my Week 7 Reflection, in which I went to the beach every day that week to enjoy the beautiful New England weather, went on walks, and enjoyed nature. I know you chose Elon because it’s in a warm place down South, but I chose UNE partly because it is right on the ocean. Every time I visited Freddy Beach on campus I was reminded of summertime when we would drive either to the lake in Concord or take a day trip to Hampton Beach with friends. This was a weekly if not daily occurrence for us where we would go swimming, listen to music, and get smoothie bowls at the smoothie bus. In my Week 2 Reflection, I talk about one of my favorite college memories so far. At the beginning of the semester I looked for shells with friends, listened to music, and got to know the people here better.

Something that I am super excited about next semester is the fact that I now have a car on campus. Unfortunately, because this school is pretty small and far away from almost everything, I felt somewhat trapped without a car. It was difficult to have to rely on my friends to get me everywhere I needed to go. Other than that, I was forced to take the bus which was a whole ordeal if I needed to get somewhere at a specific time, and taking the train home was super stressful. In my Week 13 Reflection, I talked about how I was surprised by a car when I came home for Thanksgiving break. That week was awesome because I saw friends and family almost every day. It was amazing to catch up with everyone on what I had missed while away at school.  

Overall, I like this school and I think I will stay here. It was really hard to make the transition from seeing my family and childhood friends every day to going off on my own, but I am used to it by now. Looking back on my first semester, I had a very fun time, I did well in most of my classes, and I got to know a lot of very interesting, new people.

Love your friend,

Maddie