William & Mary v2.0

Alas, I can finally say I’ve settled into school… a whole month later. Sophomore year has proven to be as exciting as freshmen year. It’s a whole different experience coming back the second year. I mean there are the obvious things. You know your way around campus, you can wave and say hi to friends on the first day of school, and you’re on the other side of the convocation walk. But at the same time, sophomore year presented me with some things I was not expecting, and it’s great so far.

The best way to explain it is that you really hit the ground running. Freshmen year was great—it is great for basically everyone who has the fortune of spending it at William & Mary. You do ridiculous, spontaneous things with your freshmen hall, explore and learn more about the campus everyday, and starting rooting yourself in what you’re interested. Sophomore year is when it really starts. You literally start the year off right where you left off— at about the point you were ready to launch headfirst into the remainder of your three years. I love sophomore year because I’ve been able to utilize all the growth I experienced freshmen year and finally apply it. All those freak-outs about what I’m going to do with my life and the subsequent therapeutic sit-downs with academic advisors have finally amounted to a major I’m planning on finally declaring. The 238 interest meetings that you went to freshmen year have dwindled down to the mere top 20 favorite activities you think about day and night. It just goes to show you that we’re always, constantly evolving.

Maybe that’s why W&M hasn’t gotten boring yet. While the surroundings aren’t necessarily changing, our perspectives constantly are. As students evolve and grow on campus, we keep entering into a new perspective. We find things we never knew existed before on campus, from friendships, to resources, to random statues around campus that definitely were there last year. We keep growing, and everything becomes new again. So, I may be a little late, but here’s to the new year, William & Mary. It’ll be just as exciting as the first.