By: Samantha Smith
As a freshman at ENMU my thoughts about college differed greatly from what they are now. That year, I spent lots of nights out with friends, came home late and got just a few hours of sleep before my morning classes, and took daily afternoon naps. Though I had A’s in all of my classes, never missed a day of rodeo practice, and had great relationships with all of my friends, my freshman ways would suddenly end.
Sophomore year held many changes for me, many of which I was unprepared to handle at the time. After summer break I came back to school expecting everything to be the same and was surprised to find out that it was not. My older sister, Taylor, had graduated at the end of my freshman year. I was 30 hours from home and for the first time I was without family. Though I had moved in with a very close friend of mine and I never did experience home-sickness, I missed my sister and I missed the way things were before. Late nights out with friends vanished quickly, my success in the rodeo arena dwindled away, and though it had been a year already, I was still struggling with the loss of my dog. During the rodeo season, I made friends with Kellie and Rylee, two girls from other schools that competed with me, and their friendships made all the difference in the world. By the end of the first semester, I realized I hadn’t been in Portales on the weekend since our college rodeo the second week of September. At first, I was surprised at my absence and immediately after I felt like I had missed part of the college experience by leaving town at every opportunity. Looking back just over a year later, I wouldn’t change one decision I made, as I got to experience so many things that for others is only a dream.
Second semester as a sophomore, things changed for me again after my parents gave me a puppy for Christmas. This resulting in me moving to another friend’s house where I would stay until my junior year. Still missing having Taylor at school, I would make the ten-hour drive one-way to my parents Arizona house each weekend I could get away. Turns out, by the time you’re in your fourth semester of college you start doing whatever it takes to avoid Friday classes, and I was lucky enough to be able to avoid Monday, Wednesday, Fridays all together. Sophomore year was definitely no freshman year, but it did teach me a lot of life lessons that will follow me through life.
Now, as a junior, things have changed for me once again. As I sit in my room watching Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix and writing this article at 3 a.m., I am reminiscing on the memories I have made thus far. As much as I enjoyed the majority of my classes freshman and sophomore year, I am finally into upper-division classes focused on my major. Now that I am in my practicum, I am able to practice real-life skills focused towards my future career. Classes are harder and require more time, but the skills learnt over the past two years are finally being put to use. I still compete at the college rodeos, I still maintain great grades, and I still get to spend time with friends. Perhaps my favorite part of this year is that my younger sister, Kennedy, has now joined me at ENMU. Kennedy has a one-of-a-kind personality, and living with her is full of laughs.
Even though I still have a year to go, I feel like I have gained everything I could ever need to survive in real life thanks to college. College has taught me not to take things to heart, that there is always room for improvement, that mistakes happen, and that moderation and balance are the keys to a healthy life. Here’s hoping I’m almost ready for the road that lies ahead of me.
