“Why am I always so tired?” I had grumbled last week, taking a seat next to my friend in Mugar. However, she just ignored me and continued working, her pen scratching across the notecards in front of her. As a senior, she did not like to feed into my academic-based complaints, especially when I came to interrupt her in Mugar (which was often).
“I mean, come on,” I tried again, nudging her elbow with my own. “I just feel so, like, done with it all lately.”
My friend sighed, put her pen down, and finally looked up at me. “That’s because you’re in your sophomore slump,” she said.
“Sophomore slump?” I asked.
“Yup, sophomore slump. It happens to the best of us. Even me.”
I had remembered thinking that that was hard to believe as clearly there was no way this girl, a second-semester senior who still chose to study in Mugar, could ever have a ‘slump’ of any kind.
“You, Marcela? You had a sophomore slump?” I had asked her, my disbelief evident.
She then glared up at me, choosing to pick up her pen again and continue her work. “Yes, I did. I know, shocker,” she had dead-panned, averting her glare down to her notecards. “But it’s a real thing. The best and worst part about going to school in Boston is the fact that it’s in Boston. We all get a little lost in the city sometimes.”
And she was completely right. As I let her go back to her notecards and pulled out my own work to begin, I pondered how my sophomore slump had come to be. Was it the academics? No, I always looked forward to all of my COM classes and projects. Was it my social life? No, my sorority had given me plenty of friends and activities to keep myself occupied. Was it the long winter? Doubtful, seeing as I had grown up in New England my whole life and had never gotten the winter blues.
Then what was it?
I considered what Marcela said: “We all get a little lost in the city sometimes.”
And there was my answer.
Boston is one of the most incredible cities in the world, and it was a rarity for a day of my life to pass without any acknowledgment of how much I adored this city. Everything about Boston and BU seemed to beckon me to go here in high school – Fenway, T Anthony’s, the Charles River — but I really fell in love with BU because of the faculty I couldn’t wait to learn under, the thought of being on a real news broadcast for BUTV10, and getting published in an established and acclaimed collegiate magazine and newspaper. Sometimes, I found myself getting lost in my sheer amazement of this school, but more so, I felt intimidated.
So many times, it’s so easy for COM students to get swept up in the brilliance of this school, its faculty, and the endless opportunities this school provides you to produce great content for the world of media. As a sophomore who is involved in a lot of different clubs on campus, I still find myself getting lost in the vastness of BU and Boston sometimes, just because I’m constantly surrounded by such incredible people who have accomplished such incredible things. It’s easy to get lost in the magnitude of what we do as COM students, sometimes – but it’s easy to find your way through it all, too.
The COM faculty, while super impressive, is also super friendly and approachable. They’re teaching because they want to, and are great resources to help get yourself grounded. They’ve helped me a ton in my years so far, and I can’t wait to get to know other faculty and build those relationships with them, too.
BUTV10, the Daily Free Press, the Buzz, the Tab, and all the other clubs here at BU are groups made by your peers, for your peers, and establishing those connections with other students like yourself is something that has helped me establish myself as a student and media professional. BUTV10 is my favorite thing on campus, and the friends, mentors, and experience I’ve gained from it is absolutely priceless.
And, of course, you are your own best friend. You know what you can handle – you know when you’re burning out, ready to take on more, or just need some Nutella and a nap. If you are good to yourself and try your best in COM, COM will always be good to you right back.
My sophomore slump happened for a lot of different reasons – and it may even be happening to some of my other COM peers right now, too – but you can always find your way back to COM, back to BU, and back to Boston with a little help from the wonderful people around you.
