My College Experience: Freshman & Sophomore Years

 Hey there!

So it's that time of year again. School is starting back up and it's time to hit the books again! I'm so excited because this is the final semester that I get to call myself an "undergrad". My time at Tech has been a series of events, from changing my major over and over again. To question what I was doing here, and even if I belonged here.

So today I thought I would share with you my story about my time at Texas Tech University.

I started school in the fall of 2014. As soon as I graduated high school, I was counting down the days until I left Breckenridge, Tx to get up to Lubbock. I started off my first semester by taking 18 hours (which I learned was an awful idea to start with). I didn't have a job my first semester and I'm thankful because I honestly don't know how I would have handled everything on my plate. I joined a Christian group that fall and I'm very thankful for the friends I made there, but because of all my involvement in the group, my grades began to slip and resulted in myself not finishing so well that fall semester. For the spring semester, I spent most of my time with my nose in the books and began working at Applebee's as a waitress. My first ever big-girl/waiting job. I spent the next year and a half working there and learned so many life lessons waiting table that I never would have learned if I hadn't worked there.

Sophomore year was a ride. I had moved out of the dorm and was living with a family friend, so I was learning how to live off-campus. When you live on campus it's easy to leave a little bit later and still make it to class on time. Off-campus you have to leave earlier than expected because you never know what could happen on your way to class. Or you could be like me, who would be super lazy and miss class because you spent the previous night closing a restaurant till 3 am or later. I believe this was the semester fall 2015/spring 2016 that I changed my major because I couldn't understand A&P to save my life, and with me wanting to go into Physical Therapy, it was a major core class that I needed to get. By the end of the semester, I had switched from Pre-Physical Therapy to Math.

I thought math was going to be easy for me, but oh boy was I wrong. Within 3 weeks of starting Pre-Cal in the fall of 2016, I had dropped my math class after failing my first test of the semester. I was in a complete panic because I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to talk to my family and figure out a new plan. I remember this moment so well because I spent the rest of that week crying in my pillow in my apartment because I was so scared. I was in my head about if I was meant to be here, or if I was just wasting my time in college. What got me through this rough patch, was daily writing in my journals. Just writing down my feelings and emotions. I would make lists about what I wanted to do and then it finally clicked in my mind. I needed to switch my major to English. So once the spring of 2017 rolled around, that is what I did. Walking out of the counselor's office, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest. I was finally on the path that was meant for me.

I hope you enjoy this part of my school experience, I will post the rest later this upcoming week.

Thanks!

- Tabatha