I hope this first month back at school has brought nothing but smiles to everyone’s faces. Many students say that the second semester of a school year is more challenging due to the lack of breaks and the homestretch to summer. However, I have found the second semester to be as exciting and full of freshman experiences as the first.
For starters, the sports during the second semester are unmatched. Football season may fill the air with school pride, but basketball and baseball season do just the same. The first time I stepped foot in the Food City Center to watch a basketball game, I thought, “What can the Vols not do?” I am excited to watch the men’s and women’s teams wrap up their successful seasons.
With the baseball and softball seasons around the corner, my second semester will hopefully include a lot of victories. As a first-time Vol, these sports experiences do not compare to any others I have had in the past.
Secondly, reconnecting with friends after a long break makes school a million times better. I found winter break challenging because I missed feeling that exciting energy engulfing me at every turn on campus. I longed to climb the VolWall, a newfound passion that sparked at the end of my first semester. I wanted nothing more than to simply eat dinner at Rocky Top Dining Hall with my friends as well. There was nowhere I wanted to be more than the University of Tennessee.
Third of all, I realized that my freshman year is coming to an end soon. It is bittersweet knowing I will soon be able to help out a freshman struggling to understand dining dollars or the T-Link even though I have barely figured out both myself. As this first chapter of college begins to close out, I know I have made some amazing memories during my first year on Rocky Top. My experience would not have been possible without stepping out of my comfort zone.
As I write this, I find it all ironic. This testimony about my great love for my freshman year was almost nonexistent at the beginning of the academic year. I struggled at first because I had not gone to my dream school. For context, I had gotten into Tulane, which was the end-all-be-all for me. However, I could not afford the pricey tuition and went with the University of Tennessee. My broken heart and I assumed that the four years ahead of me would flat-out suck, or so I thought.
After much time and endless football games, frat parties, new friends, exciting clubs and knowing that the experiences are what I make them, nothing but passion for the University of Tennessee flows through my veins.
So, second semester, I hope you make me fall in love with the university all over again. May the last bit of my freshman year be filled with pride, happiness and a whole lot of orange!
Madison Ellis is a freshman at UT this year studying neuroscience. She can be reached at [email protected].
Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.
