Live your last like it’s your first

As I wrap up my fall semester of senior year, I’ve realized it slowly hitting me that I’m actually going to be graduating next semester. I never thought my turn to graduate would come so fast. When I came here as freshman, the orientation workshop leaders said time would fly by in the blink of an eye, but I always shrugged it off. Almost four years later flashed by before my eyes and now I definitely see what they meant.

I remember my first semester at Bloom like it was yesterday. A completely new environment, new people, and a chance to become a new me. Bloomsburg University became my home away from home. Something I thought another place could never be.

Every year I’ve come back, it’s just as exciting and nerve-wracking as the one before. The feeling of anticipation for what fun the new semester will bring. New opportunities, fresh starts, and new memories with old friends.

Reflecting on my college career, I’m glad Bloomsburg University gave me the chance to grow as a person. My first semester here, I was a shy 18-year-old that only went to class. Now, I’m so much more involved on campus in organizations such as BUNow as a social media editor, I’m member of the International English Honors Society Sigma Tau Delta, and the vice president of my sorority, Chi Sigma Rho. If I hadn’t chose to go to Bloom, I don’t think I would have learned what I have and met the people that I did to help me become the confident and involved person I am today.

The classes I’ve taken and professors I’ve had have given me important knowledge that I know will be crucial to be successful in my future. This university has definitely prepared me for the “real world” and I feel confident I’m prepared to handle whatever comes my way after I graduate.

My time here has allowed me to not only gain lifelong skills like time management, leadership, independence, and effective communication, but friends that I’ll cherish for a lifetime.

Our college years are some of the most difficult times of our lives. Most of us are off on our own for the first time, living in a new area, and having to make new relationships with all kinds of different people. Not to mention the different and overwhelming stressors that we all can experience during these years.

I’ve been able to go through the hard times of college with the friends I’ve made. Whether it be getting a bad grade, or just having a rough day, I’ve always had someone to lean on or ask for support.

As I go into my last semester of my undergraduate college career ever, I want to live it up as if it’s my first. Any chance I get, I want to make sure I’m living the moment to the fullest. Every new opportunity that comes my way I’m going to make sure I experience it. Any campus events I’m able to go to like Free Food Friday, bingo or trivia at the KUB, I’ll be there. I want to spend as much time as I can on campus just taking in the time I have here, while I still have it.

Most seniors take easy classes their last semester, but I want to take advantage of the last bit of time I have as an undergraduate student and continue to learn as much as I can in as many different areas as I can. I’m even going to make sure I utilize all of the resources Bloom offers as much as I can like attending more Professional U workshops, and even applying to present in the Husky Student Leadership Summit.

Years from now, when I look back on my college years, I want to have no regrets and no missed opportunities I wish I took. My time at Bloomsburg University will be a piece of my life that I’ll always be proud of myself for.

When I walk across that stage at the end of next semester, I will be grateful for the memories I’ve made while a student here. Bloomsburg University will always be a part of me, and I know I’ll always be a part of Bloomsburg.

Once a Husky, always a Husky!

— Samantha Bergan, senior mass communications major and English minor

#BloomOnward #HuskyLife

Miscommunication and roommates … a bad mix

Communication. It’s an easy concept, but not everyone does it right.

Communicating effectively with people is a difficult thing to do, yet we do it everyday. I learned this my sophomore year through the mistakes I made. As a senior now, I'm still learning more about it; which is to be honest and open about what I want to say. To build and maintain relationships, it’s important to know how to communicate with people.

Sophomore year, my two roommates and I moved into our first apartment together. We all were so excited. The idea of having our own place with no rules to follow seemed like a dream. We couldn't wait to get out of our shared dorms and finally have a whole apartment right across from campus to ourselves with our own rooms, big kitchen and living room, and most importantly, our very own bathroom.

Over the summer, we constantly talked about what cute decorations we were bringing all the way from painted canvases to stylish throw pillows. We shared dinner ideas we were planning on making like cajun chicken Alfredo pasta, movies we wanted to watch for movie nights, mainly comedy of course, and many other fun activities we wanted to do all year.

A few weeks into the semester is when things started to get weird. One of my roommates and I noticed our food was slowly disappearing, and both of us weren’t eating each other’s food or even our own.

We soon realized it was our other roommate. My roommate and I were annoyed, because we were sharing but she had no snacks or anything in the pantry, so we just assumed she wasn't sharing, but she was still eating our food. To avoid having the awkward conversation of asking her to stop eating our food, we decided to go food shopping and just have her pay her half if she wanted to continue to eat the groceries we got. Well, she didn’t want to pay her half, so it worked out for us that she wouldn't eat our food again since she didn't pay for it.

It was a simple fix just by communicating with her that if she didn't have food herself to share with us, it wouldn't be fair to eat ours. Instead, we had to figure out a whole plan so we would avoid that awkward conversation. I wish I would've known that communicating effectively of course can be awkward, but it can be important for getting the message across.

From this experience, I’ve grown as a person and learned to just be open and honest when communicating with others more importantly, with my friends. Living with other people besides your family is difficult, especially when it’s the first time. You never wanna be “that person” who complains about the dishes, or having to clean, or your food going missing. But when it comes down to it, the only way to solve those problems is to communicate effectively.

Sophomore year was a learning experience for me. I learned instead of being afraid of awkward conversations, to just let someone know if they’re doing something that’s not fair to me, because they might not even know they’re doing it in the first place. This creates an understanding of one another. Effective communication.

If you’re moving into an apartment next year with roommates, definitely have those awkward conversations about how you want to live together and how you’re expecting the year to go. Just so there’s a full understanding of what is expected of each other.

I wish my then roommates and I could've talked about this kind of stuff before dealing with it then and there, and ending up losing friendships because of it. Miscommunication is what ruins friendships, when it's so easy to just sit down and try to understand each other’s feelings. Looking back, I wish the situation was handled better. It set the tone for how the rest of the year was going to go since we didn’t feel comfortable or know how to communicate effectively.

Since then, I’ve been able to learn from this experience of miscommunication by being honest and understanding of other’s thoughts in an effort to prevent situations like this one in the future.

— Samantha Bergan, senior mass communications major and English minor

#BloomOnward #HuskyLife

Well, hello there college ... nice to meet you!

Picture this: you’re in the backseat of your parent’s car on the way to move in to college.

Your heart is beating fast.

You have butterflies in your stomach.

You can’t help but be excited, yet nervous at the same time. You’re mere hours away from officially being a college student ... away from your parents ... and living on your own for the first time ever! You think you’re 100% prepared for this new life. You've read online all of the recommended freshman in college do’s and don’ts. But alas, this was a whole new world. An entirely new script. A new lifestyle ... my new chapter.

This was me three years ago. I was that typical nervous freshman not knowing what to expect my first year at Bloomsburg. I just knew I was excited for this next chapter to begin.

I'll never forget the empty feeling of hugging my parents’ goodbye with my voice cracking and eyes filled up with tears after finishing unpacking my dorm. I've never felt anything like it before. It was a mix of sadness and excitement all at once. I had no idea what I was going to do without them. I stood in the parking lot watching them drive away just wondering what I was supposed to do next. Besides my roommate, I was all alone on a campus of almost 10,000 students. I felt like an outsider.

Flash forward a few days and it’s my initial “first day of classes” in college. Unlike high school, I walk into a room full of strangers. It was nothing like my hometown. I pretty much knew, or have heard of, most of the people in my town. And everyone knew everyone’s business. Here I was, in a town full of people I had never met and without my parents, for the first time.

My shyness was definitely triggered. I knew I was there for my education and to pay attention to the professor, instead of being so nervous. I had no idea what to expect from college classes. The thought of not having my mom around to help me with any of my homework, like math, gave me a knot in the pit of my stomach. And just thinking about not being able to come home from a rough day and not having my dad there to make me laugh made it even worse!

My biggest fear was I was going to fail out, that I wouldn’t be able to handle and equally balance a social life and school work. I heard so many stories of people just not going to class and partying all day and night, not having a care in the world. I made sure I paid attention and went to every class and asked for help if I ever needed it. I was motivated to do well in college and to not let any hard classes get me down.

Going into college no one really ever tells you about the important little things you learn day to day. My time in college so far has taught me a lot of things. Things like communication, leadership, and time management. My first year of college taught me something that has helped me throughout these years which is how to be independent.

I had to live without my parents for the first time and learn to do things on my own. I took care of myself when I got sick, fed myself, forced myself to go to classes, and learned how to become my own person.

Those college do’s and don’ts definitely didn’t prepare me. In college, you don’t have your parents on your back telling you to get your homework done or reminding you of things going on. It's solely all on you to be in charge of your life and to make sure to get your work done.

I'm glad I was able to balance how to have fun and taking my education seriously. Surprisingly, first semester freshman year was one of the best semesters academically I've had. Learning how to be independent by being on my own for the first time and what steps I have to take to succeed is what kept me focus and still does to this day.

Looking back, I'm proud of myself on how I got throughout the “toughness” of the first year of college. Bloomsburg taught me independence my freshman year of college by allowing me to learn more about myself. I’d say that’s a pretty big achievement for a freshman.

— Samantha Bergan, senior mass communications major and English minor #BloomOnward #HuskyLife