Miranda Wallace | Contributing Writer

Freshman year in college is a terrifying adventure. You must adapt to a new environment, make new friends, and learn to handle stress and the course load that comes along with it. How do students not only survive this hot mess but also thrive in it? That was a question that ran through my head so many times last year. The answer I was receiving was to take advantage of every opportunity thrown your way. Well here’s the kicker, when you are a freshman not as many things are presented to you; you have to seek them out. How do you possibly have time to do what is required of you and look for more opportunities to load on the stress? Why would you even want to? Long answer short: it is so worth it.

College is a time for change – to chase your passions or to discover what they may be. If you just do the bare minimum you will never develop into the wonderful, brilliant, and well-rounded person that you can become.

Now that you are all pumped up and ready to delve into the endless possibilities waiting for you, where do you look? That is the amazing thing about Buena Vista University (BVU); there are endless possibilities waiting for you to stumble upon. Having a short attention span and studying does not jive well. This led me to many study breaks where I would browse the school website, Google, Facebook, and Pinterest; However, it was with these random, putting off homework, study breaks that I stumbled upon the makings of one unforgettable summer.

The traveler in me took me to the J-Term page on the school website. If you scroll down far enough you will stumble upon different trips to take in the summer. When I saw the words South Africa, safari, and summer, I knew immediately I had to go. My parents didn’t quite understand my enthusiasm for my first big college trip to be not only to a foreign country but to one as different as South Africa. After the appeal and eagerness wore off of signing up, I was back to browsing. This time it was Google who led me to the final piece of what was sure to be an amazing summer. I will never tire of hyping up Google. It offers endless opportunities; all you need to do is push that search button. It was what landed me an internship working with some of the animals I was going to see in South Africa.

Was it nerve-wracking to leave my family for the entire summer and go meet new people quite a distance from my home? Of course! I would be lying if I said it was a piece of cake! Of course it was scary; I was terrified, but I knew that no matter what the outcome it would be worth it. And you know what? I was right. My summer was an incredibly scary, self-finding adventure. It was challenging and tough but so amazingly worth it. I have come away with not only a new appreciation for the animals that fascinate me, but with a new insight on myself and what I want to do with the rest of my life.

So chase your dreams, and search for opportunities. If you have thought of it, I can almost guarantee there is a way you can accomplish it. Do not let fear of the unknown stop you from chasing the things that make fascination gleam in your eyes and a big ole sappy grin plaster your face. As Mark Twain once said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”