October has been full of some exciting times. The second month of the semester always proves to be my favorite: everyone seems to be getting back into the bustle of things, the seasons are changing, and newness is in the air! As a sophomore, October can be particularly meaningful. You're learning which classes you like and which aren't your favorite. You're reckoning that you'll select your major in the coming months. You're also reckoning with the fact that you've made an entire trip around the Sun at Princeton. You're quite acclimated and should be a pro at navigating life on campus. October means you've done it. You're no longer a newly minted Princeton student.
This past month has been particularly fun for me. It started with Nigerian Independence Day celebrations. It was amazing to get to celebrate my heritage amongst friends and peers. And then came midterms prep. For me, midterms week was full of lots of writing, with several long papers due before Fall Break. This year, however, I decided against isolating myself in a study room/cubicle to complete my midterms work. Instead, I studied with friends! There was a beautiful solidarity in knowing we were all working towards similar goals. And having that support while working made even the more difficult periods of the midterms week a little more bearable. By the end of the week, I felt proud of myself and my writing. I also felt full of love for my little community on campus.
Another gem during this week was one of my favorite playwrights visiting campus for a Princeton Atelier-at-Large talk. After the talk, a couple of other theater students and I got to chat with her for a minute, asking for advice on our respective theater journeys, and she even signed her Pulitzer-prize winning play for us! This was a beautiful vignette in the week’s chaos.
Fall break was a wonderful decompression from the first month and a half on campus. I spent it with family—on a cruise throughout the Caribbean. It was wonderful getting to re-hash my first portion of the semester while simultaneously gearing up for the second part of it. By the time it was time to return to Princeton from break, I felt ready and excited (unlike past semesters, where I was a bit apprehensive). I knew I could brave the obstacles that were coming my way.
And one of my first accomplishments upon returning to campus was voting for the very first time. Upon my return, I found that my mail-in ballot was waiting for me at my campus mailbox. I felt fortunate that despite being far away from home, I could vote both in my local elections as well as the presidential one — even from the comfort of my dorm. As a first-generation American, the act of voting felt very special to me. And my family back home were all super excited.
And last but not least, Halloween festivities! To break out of the "Orange Bubble" — a nickname for the Princeton campus — my friends and I chose to celebrate the first weekend of Halloween in Philadelphia. A couple of us have family there and friends who attend college in the city, so it was beautiful to visit loved ones, share stories from campus, and see what social life is like at other universities. We all dressed up as the characters of the Scooby gang from Scooby Doo and had a truly wonderful time. And we're gearing up to do it all again — this time on Princeton's campus.
While months at Princeton can feel very short and fast, they are filled with so much fun and so much love. I'm so excited to see what beautiful memories the next months of the semester bring.
