2021-2022 Review

My third year: the first (mostly) in-person year of my entire college experience so far. However, this year was defined by "firsts" in many more ways than this alone. Over its course, I've watched the halfway point of my undergraduate experience come and go, and seen graduation creep up with seemingly increasing haste. It's like a looming sense of impending adulthood peering over my shoulder. This year has shown me how much I've grown and changed; I see incoming freshmen, outgoing seniors, and myself rounding the corner between them - all at such wildly different stages of life that at times it's tough to comprehend our relative proximity in age and experience. 

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On a less existential note, this year's firsts have encompassed things other than just the realization that life is coming up fast.

Last summer I spent my second official co-op in Lexington, Kentucky, my first time living out of state and my first fully software-based role. I got to devote the full semester to learning and deploying Python code, as well as figure out networking in a post-Covid workplace.

The semester after that, Fall 2021, was my busiest to date: 19 credit hours (the maximum is 18), along with working a part-time job, acting as Vice Regent of my engineering fraternity, College-Wide Events Chair of UC's engineering student government, an ambassador for several different organizations on campus, and an officer in my social sorority. Talk about busy. In the context of firsts, this was my first time realizing that I have an upper limit, and hitting it head-on. As a result, I also had to consider my first major readjustment of priorities; in going from my chapter's VP to President, I had to take steps to balance that in other areas. 

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And this past semester, Spring 2022, I got to devote to some firsts tied more closely to my personal life, carving out time and energy to work on hobbies and passion projects. Hand-knitted merino wool Crosley Tower sweater, anyone? No...? Ahem. Anyway. I was extremely lucky to have time to travel to three other countries and experience their cultures. I bought a bike and have since become a staunch proponent of biking to class, not walking. As I write this, I am engulfed on my right by tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, mint, basil, potatoes, and jalapeños, all sown and grown by yours truly; and on my left is a table I restored by hand, covered with the morning spread of chess pieces, breakfast dishes, and hand-pulled espresso. 

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So, a year of mostly firsts has treated me well. I get the sense I'm at the stage of life where things aren't always "the first time ever" anymore, and things start getting repetitive. Perhaps this time next year I'll be talking about what that feeling is like, or how it defines my upcoming fourth year of college. We'll see.

For now, I'll be here - figuring things out.

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