When we came to Notre Dame freshman year, we were in a completely new environment, with lots of fears, hopes and dreams. Two of the questions on the forefront of our minds were: “Where will I fit in here?” and “Who will my friends be?” No one really knew anyone unless you came from the same school. So what did we do? We signed up for too many clubs, and we went out of our comfort zones to meet people! And the friendships/friend groups began to develop.
Now that we do great things and have wonderful friends, we are comfortable sticking with what we know. Change was scary enough freshman year, and as the semesters pass, we figure we are where we are suppose to be. And in many ways, we are.
I do, however, wish we could gain back a bit of that friendly freshman mentality to try something we have never done before or say hi to that person in class we’ve never met — even though we’ve been at the same school for two-and-a-half years!
Just today, I went and did Zumba with a wonderful group of people I recently met and it was a blast. I wasn’t too far along in my time at Notre Dame to change up the routine. In fact, the routine has changed quite a bit since I first stepped on campus freshman year! From studying theology as well as pre-medical studies while competing on the Notre Dame Track and Cross Country teams, to a theology major who for some reason decided to pick up Latin (it’s kind of hard...), the routine has changed up quite a bit.
Our entire journey these four years and beyond is a time to grow, develop, meet and learn from many people and though it’s scary at times, to change and recognize that we are becoming more ourselves as we do. (Well, hopefully!) It’s never too late to go out of our comfort zones again and try something new, to discover something about ourselves and others and to meet some more amazing people at Notre Dame.
Kat Stultz
Junior
Welsh Family Hall
Jan. 29
