Freshman Year Recap

Well, here we are: I actually finished my freshman year of college! This is going to be a longer blog post, but a good one.

I guess the best place to start would be move in. Because I’m in the Honors College, I was a part of an early move in program, which really helped me acclimate and reduce my anxiety. My whole family drove up and we spent several hours moving in all my stuff. We ended up needing an unanticipated second car, and even had to buy more storage containers at Target once we got to Fredericksburg. I’ve never been accused of being a light packer….

A young woman standing in front of a building with a banner above the front doors that reads, "Welcome Home Virginia Residents!" — In front of my dorm hall on move in day

It was definitely nerve-wracking to be away from home, in a totally new environment, surrounded by thousands of strangers, but what helped ease my homesickness was the knowledge that everyone was in the same boat as me. What immediately struck me about Mary Washington was how friendly everyone is. I very quickly made some friends with people from Honors and other people on my hall (VA 2nd floor let’s go).

My first week of classes was stressful because I didn’t know what to expect, but luckily I had awesome professors. I really threw myself into the college experience, so my first semester was characterized by late nights with friends, copious club meetings, karaoke nights, volunteering, and fun events with the CCM.

I got a sinus infection within a few weeks at school, which was miserable and heightened my homesickness. There were several things that helped combat that loneliness:

I remained in correspondence with my uncle (which I’ve been doing for years) and started exchanging letters with a friend back home (shoutout Ava)
I spent time with friends instead of isolating in my room
I called family and friends back home when I could in order to stay up to date with them
I stayed on campus and didn’t go home for the first 8 weeks

I definitely think that making a point to stay on campus and get involved in the community helped me to make Mary Wash my home more easily.

Here are some pics from my first couple months at school!

A young woman sitting next to a statue of a mother otter and her two pups. — Exploring downtown Fredericksburg with my Honors group during the early arrival program

A young woman smiling at the top of an indoor rock climbing wall. — Rock climbing with the CCM

A young woman squatting beside a statue of a mother otter and her pup. — At a festival downtown

A woman in fencing gear pointing a sabre at the camera. — Fencing club

Young woman smiling with a snake on her shoulders. — Volunteering at the Family Fall Festival hosted by the disAbility Resource Center

A TV displaying the end of a Jackbox game. The prompt says "You're stuck in a prison made of bones." The reviews are as follows: "No," "Brilliant," "Bones," "I wanted more about the prison," and "This spoke to me because I'm stuck in a prison made of bones." — Playing Jackbox way too late at night

Got my headshot taken courtesy of Mary Washington’s Center for Career and Professional Development

An acrylic painting on canvas of a dark red apple on a pale yellow background. — Painted this for my friend who suffers from an apple addiction. If you like this painting, you should check out my art gallery….

Toward the end of the fall semester I got two campus jobs: in the Admissions Office as a tour guide and in the Digital Knowledge Center (DKC) as a consultant. I started working as a tour guide in December, but it wasn’t until the spring semester that I started my training as a DKC Consultant. (Which you can read all about on my subdomain here: DKC Training Subdomain.)

I really loved having a long winter break (a full month vs. only two weeks during high school) and getting to spend time with my family and friends. This is also when I buzzed my hair!! Which you can read about in my first blog post here: The Big Chop.

Here are pics from Christmas and winter break:

A white piece of paper with the team name "Gingerbread Powerhouse" written on it with cartoon pictures of a gingerbread house and a mitochondrion organelle.

A fully decorated gingerbread house with two snowmen in front of the house made out of marshmallows. — We didn’t win the gingerbread decorating competition unfortunately

The backs of two women as they ice skate and hold hands for balance. — Ice skating back home

A woman standing and smiling in a snowy parking lot. — One of the couple snowfalls we got this winter.

In early 2025 I attended both the national SEEK Conference and the Richmond College Summit with the CCM, which were amazing opportunities. I plan to go on more retreats in the upcoming years.

Two women sitting on the floor and smiling. — My campus minister and me at Summit

A smiling woman standing next to and pointing to a cardboard cutout of Pope Francis. — At Summit

Coming back to school for my second semester, I was feeling a lot more confident. Perhaps too confident–guess who decided to take an 8-week course? Yeah… I’m going to think long and hard the next time I consider another 8-week class. All in all, though, it was a good first year for academics! I got to jump right into business classes (accounting, economics, all that good stuff), but I also got to take what turned out to be my favorite class this semester. It was called Global Issues in Literature and we read six books set in different places around the world: India, China, Zimbabwe, and more. Funnily enough, I’ll be taking another English class next semester with the same professor, but this one is about the First World War.

Hands down, the highlight of my spring semester was joining the Performing Arts Company (PAC). I won’t go into too much detail because I already rambled about it in another blog post, which you can find here: Big Show Success.

Move out was easier than move in because I started slowly moving things back home as early as spring break. Here are some final pictures from my spring semester. I promise I’m not lying about having friends and family. It’s just that I didn’t want to publicize them on the World Wide Web. So for now you’re going to have to cope with just pictures of me.

A woman smiling while holding a puppy who's trying to escape her arms. — Holding my friend’s new puppy

A young woman smiling while holding a 3D-printed trophy that says, "I survived my first mock consultation." — Survived my first mock consultation, which you can read about here: First Mock Consultation

Young woman standing behind a mock casino table. — Dealing blackjack for 100th Night Senior Celebration

A woman smiling and wearing a blue onesie themed to look like Stitch from the Lilo and Stitch movies — Volunteering with the CCM to help out Micah Ministries and their Coldest Night of the Year Walk

Young woman smiling and standing next to Sammy D. Eagle, Mary Washington's Mascot — Sammy picture!

A woman turning on stage mid-dance — Big Show!!!

A selfie of a smiling woman wearing a 3D-printed nametag with a giraffe design and the words "Lexi, DKC Consultant" — I 3D printed my own nametag for work. You can read more here: 3D Printing Nametag

While I’ve loved my first year at college, and I’m super happy I chose Mary Washington, I’m also really glad to be home. I’m interning at my mom’s accounting office this summer, so that will keep me busy. My plan is to graduate a semester early, so I’ll also be taking two online summer classes to facilitate that and hopefully lessen my course load during the fall and spring. My family might also take a trip up to Rhode Island to visit my cousin! (Watch out Alyssa, we’re coming for you.)

Some things coming up next year:

I’ll be living in the on-campus apartments, so my roommates and I will have our own kitchen!
I’ll be able to bring a car on campus
I’m one of the new co-leads of the Liturgy Team for the CCM, making the schedule for altar servers and lectors
I’ve cleared my class schedule up, so hopefully I get into three Big Show pieces next semester!!
I’ll be a full-fledged DKC Consultant and start taking appointments

Looking even further ahead, I’m considering a semester abroad in Fall 2026, possibly in the UK, so stay tuned for that!

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading. I wish everyone a safe and fun summer!