Starting Sophomore Year

After a summer of watching Doctor Who on Netflix, messaging college friends on Skype, and hanging up clothing for minimum wage at my local Salvation Army, I am back in Selinsgrove for my sophomore year.

And believe me, I’m excited about it.

I will definitely miss my family and friends from home, but while at home, I definitely missed Susquehanna.

Today marks my second day of classes. So far I’ve gone to Intermediate Fiction and a little later in the day will have Hebrew Bible. I’m very excited about Intermediate Fiction—so excited that I may have, a bit foolishly, chosen the first date for workshops. I need to have a 6 to 25 page story read to send out to my classmates by September 2^nd! Thankfully, I have a lot of ideas for it, and I have some things already written that I could use.

Yesterday I attended English Grammar and the Writing Process, Thought & The Natural Sciences, and Sophomore Essay. My sophomore essay is going to be something about the portrayal of faith and religion in YA novels. Over the summer I read about six books to give me some background on it. I think I am going to focus my idea by specifically examining how YA novels represent religious doubt and its consequences and analyzing the accuracy or the helpfulness of such representations. This essay needs to be 15-20 pages long, and the first draft is, I believe, due in October. I definitely need to get to work on it. 

Probably one of the biggest differences so far is living in a different dorm. My dorm this year is smaller and a bit quieter. I have a single, a room to myself, instead of sharing a double. It’s nice to have my own space, but it’s also a bit strange since, so far, I’ve associated college with having a roommate. Some of my friends from my freshman dorm, Hassinger, are living with me in this new dorm, the Scholar’s House, so that definitely helps with the transition.

I am excited about what this year has in store! I hope to grow as a person and a writer, form new friendships, and just have a lot of fun along the way. It’s strange no longer being a freshman and seeing all these new faces on campus that are—gasp—actually younger than me, but it’s also nice to return to a familiar place.

Even if I have to get used to walking everywhere from a whole different side of campus.