This picture clearly reflects my experience at Baruch so far because it shows the struggles of being a freshman. It shows a boy who while getting so prepared for college to make a good impression ends up being a freshman disaster victim. I remember my first day holding up the line to come into the building because I was swiping my student card the wrong way or sitting in the wrong classroom because I couldn’t read the floor number of where my actual class was. Hopefully I’ve grown past that and won’t do any more embarrassing things that allow everyone in my vicinity to look at me, shake their heads and say “Oh such a freshman thing to do.” #freshmanstruggles

“So then it’s Baruch?” They say with a hopeful smile.

“Uh– yea okay, yea it’s Baruch,” I reply

My whole family jumps up and down while proceeding to smile and hug me tightly. Everyone around me was happy but all I could feel were the knots tying up in the pit of stomach. I hope my fake smiles could keep them at bay. But honestly, I wasn’t upset about it. It would’ve been selfish really to demand that I go to some tucked away college in the west, all cozy in my dorm room a thousand miles away as my parents work day and night to send my sister to medical school and my brother, a senior in high school, to college soon too. And so, I am okay with my decision.

Walking into that heavy steel revolver the first day was annoying. I had already decided my college experience was going to be horrible so I just decided to just get through it already. This is college I reassured myself. And the thoughts of people back home shaking their sympathetic faces at me filled my head.

“Commuting huh? That’s gotta be tough. Yea it’ll be hard to make good friends but hey, its just undergrad right!”

But now I stand here before you: Yes, not in an LC; yes, commuting; and yes, wanting to pursue one of the hardest majors at Baruch. And no longer am I okay with my decision: I’m proud of it. Because not only have these few weeks at Baruch taught me more as a person than all of high school combined, but I’m looking forward to the rest of the year. I’m looking forward to sleeping over at the library with my friends because we left our work till the last minute and don’t have time to commute home. I’m looking forward to visiting all the tourists sights that I always forget about doing now that I can come to the city anytime because of my lirr monthly pass. I’m looking forward to finding that random delicious bistro that one day we tried out after class. I’m looking forward to going to my first job interview and being confident because I know STARR center prepared me well enough for it. And I look forward to running into my sister and brother’s arms telling them I got the job not because I sacrificed my choice college for them, but because I actually unknowingly picked the right one. Even though I expected you to, you haven’t let me down yet Baruch. Here’s to four years of great college memories!