How does it feel to be nearing the end of your first year at ~college~? Is there anything that you're pretty sure you will look back on with serious embarrassment? What is the most important thing you've learned? (And an easy one, for kicks: what is the cutest animal you have seen this year?)
hm, it's definitely kind of surreal to even be here since "go to college" has been number 2 on my bucket list as long as i have had one. ("be an exchange student" was number 1, go figure.) it's also weird because i went a year early so my friends from back home are all still in high school, but next year all of us will be in college... i don't know, man, growing up is scary. (i'm going to be 18 on tuesday?! what?!)
i look back on everything all the time with serious embarrassment, anxiety life, you know. i have a tendency to get super pretentious and annoying in class to compensate for social anxiety, so it's a surefire way to make people hate me right off the bat. (think hermione granger but before the troll incident, when harry and ron disliked her.) i did that a lot at the beginning of last semester, especially because i was just starting to get into theology and i came on a little strong with that.
the most important thing i have learned is probably that there is no shame in asking for help when you need it. i'm in the process of getting an official diagnosis for a few different things (specifically autism/asperger's but i'll probably end up diagnosed with like three different anxiety disorders and EDNOS) and i didn't want to go into counseling for a while because i wanted to just ~deal with it~ on my own. but now i'm hopefully going to get set up with anti-anxiety meds which will probably help me a lot... i don't know, mental health is a minefield sometimes.
one of the professors here has this super cute dog who just wanders around the science building and sometimes comes into my paleontology class (and last semester into my medical anthropology class) and she is just so cute and adorable, so probably that dog. i think she's a golden retriever.
also, this otter and its teddy bear: