My name is LuLu, I’m 18 and a first-year student at SUNY Geneseo. I am from Spencerport, which is a small town in Rochester, New York. My major is adolescent education in history. Which means I want to become a history teacher. I have known that teaching was always the field id end up in. I wanted to go into teaching since I was at least six. There has always just been a pull to it . This summer, I worked in a special education classroom for their Extended School Year and loved it. it solidified the feelings I had on going into the education field.
Being in a new place is scary. being in a new place by yourself is scarier. However, the community I found at Geneseo was welcoming and warm. My RA was there to greet us and help with anything we needed. The instant connection I felt with my suitemates was a huge wave of relief. Even though we had chosen to room together, being in the same room with these girls solidified the feelings of alleviation I had about living here. It eased my nerves to immediately find a group of people I could feel welcome, supported, and altogether happy. In the first week, we had gone to Walmart three or four times, from buying a lifetime supply of vitamin water that only ends up lasting a week to buying our futon for our common room. So far one of my favorite memories from the past couple of weeks is when we all got together in the common room and played group Among Us at 12am on a Tuesday night. Or when I got my reading done for a class in the urgent care waiting room because Emma had an intestinal virus. It was not exactly how I anticipated spending one of my first nights in college, but it will be one of my core memories of my first semester, nevertheless. For it only being our first year together, I am in awe of how many moments we already have to laugh about and reminisce.
As for my classes and workload, it’s a lot but so far manageable. In high school, I tried my best to stay ahead of my work and study hard. As a history major, there is a lot of reading and write ups . In my Europe in the Age of Revolution class we read a new book every week and fill out a reading guide then write a four-page paper. There’s a lot of work, but I enjoy the class. In my History of Modern East Asia class, we read documents based on our lectures of the next class and write analytical reflections using at least two of the articles at least six times in the semester. I love the class discussions we do during our lectures and the open environment that it creates. My writing seminar theme is Theater Therapy for Veterans , so we talk about how PTSD affects veterans, and the benefits theater therapy has for them, as well as reading books that will help our writing techniques. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I look forward to this class as I know the conversation will be interesting and insightful.
Overall, I have had an enjoyable experience at college so far. I hope that I can continue to have a healthy school and social life balance while I navigate my first year. I think that balance between those two aspects of college is key, as it is crucial to be social and spend time with loved ones as well as study and work hard in classes. I look forward to what the rest of this course will bring this semester.
