Year-in-Review: Year One

My freshman year of college was definitely a turning point in my life. Starting off the year I was in Computer Science, however I was not quite satisfied with this decision, since I was more of an outdoorsman and disliked the idea of sitting at a desk for 40 hours a week. I was nervous of switching my majors, since I felt like it was a done decision. Despite this, I ended up realizing that it was not unreasonable and switched to Environmental Engineering.

As far as my physical health was concerned, I actually vastly improved, given my schedule of running in the morning and climbing for a few hours in the afternoon/evening. By the end of my first year I had actually gained about 15 pounds, since I didn’t have much fat to burn and gained a lot of muscle, a fact I’m quite proud of.

In this year, I completed two honors experiences. The first was a MATLAB project where me and a team of three other engineers modeled the best walking route on campus. The other was a course that I took titled “Understanding Religious Intolerance,” which was exactly what its name would imply. Both experiences were enjoyable and I learned a lot from each.

My year culminated in my running of the Cincinnati Flying Pig Relay Marathon. I ran the second leg, which was 7.81 miles. I ran my section of the leg in just over an hour. I was not impressed by my time, but I partly chalk this up to having a poison ivy rash on my feet for the two weeks prior. All in all, this was well worth it and I quite enjoyed my time with my team running the race.

My freshman year of college was incredibly enjoyable. I had a great time making new friends and becoming independent. I look forward to my sophomore year, where I will be taking more major-specific classes and will serve as the Trip Coordinator of the UC Mountaineering Club.