My Social Transition to Penn State
The past semester has been about finding my place at Penn State. In college, there are hundreds, if not thousands of different kinds of people. There are people who are only in college to party and there are people who spend all of their time studying. For me, it has been a journey to find the balance between the two. My first goal as a student at Penn State is to leave with the best education I possibly can, but that certainly does not mean that I am not going to have fun getting there. I like going out with friends and having fun, but sometimes it is important to say no.
I think I have finally found a balance that allows me to achieve my best academic work, while still hanging out with friends. A lot of the time, that means saying no when my friends ask me to come watch a movie. Over the past months, I have lost a few friends because of my desire to make great achievements academically. A lot of my friends come from outside the music program, so while they are enrolled in five or six classes, I find myself in ten or eleven classes. All they have to worry about is their homework for those classes, while I have to spend much of my “free-time” practicing. It is hard for them to understand how much more work being a music major is.
Do not get me wrong, I am certainly not looking for a shoulder to cry on. I love music and I love spending my time practicing to become a great musician. What I am trying to say, is that over the course of the Fall semester, I have finally found myself a group of friends who understand how important school is to me. My current network of friends understand that I spend most of my time practicing and doing schoolwork. When I turn down an invitation to a social function, they support me instead of making me feel like a loser for working and practicing. It’s taken me the entire semester, but as we head into winter break, I am very happy with my social situation. I have many good friends and a few great friends, but most importantly, my friends all support me in my academic endeavors.
Musical Life – Academic Life – Social Life – Tasks of Living with Others