1st Year at KIIT
I started my 1st semester on October 7th,2021. It all started with attending some Orientation sessions, then joining 10–12 Whatsapp groups and Google Classrooms (inc an Unofficial group). Initially, I was struggling. The whole initial 3–4 months have been challenging but that has pushed me to grow and become better. The transition was tough, I felt like everyone else in my classes is smarter than me. Classes seemed hard, making friends even harder, and being on my own downright impossible. There are people in my classes who literally know the right answer to 90% of the questions. Sometimes the professor asks a question and when I hear someone answer it, I just feel like I would never be able to come up with that answer. I just completed my 1st semester in just 119 days(4 months, to be precise…Yes, too early ). The only thing I observed in these months is that this is college and shit gets harder day by day and you have to be able to adapt to the environment and put in the work for the grades you want. Everyone is on Zoom/Google Meet now and while it can be a challenge but in retrospect, I realize that I tried too hard to belong. I anxiously fought to be the piece that fits and hopelessly could not.
My online class was great in general. I felt it was way more work than a regular class would have been but that is my only complaint. This class was structured to be an online class which I get the feeling most classes don’t do. I think that online classes can be done right so they are just as good as a physical class.
I would reminisce about the warm winter sun on my balcony while having lunch in front of my laptop.
But with this write-up comes an unsettling realization, that things are coming to an end. Soon, I will be out into the scary world without any survival skills.
It’s always different and more complicated in college, but that’s the point. I need to put the time and effort in, and things will work wonders for me one step at a time.
I realized after that a key thing with college is to convince myself that I belong there, go along with the conversations, listen to and write down the things they talk about and look them up after class. Amidst deadlines, homesickness, and contemplating what the next part of my college life was going to look like, the extension of the mid-semester break couldn’t have come at a better time for me.
As soon as our college was about to conduct the End sem exam from February 1st week, we were also getting notice emails from the college that we have to come for offline classes from 26th Feb, after the end sem gets over!
The only relaxation we had was that it wasn’t compulsory to come. The college will still run in hybrid mode. Online classes will be for students who opted online. Though, I already made my fixed decision that I am gonna opt for the online mode because it’s not easy to leave my place-New Delhi. I have various other reasons as well too for not joining offline college very early, as why to waste money on the hostel. A hostel is quite a new place for me and I never liked introducing myself to people or making conversations with people I barely knew. I never liked the idea of staying on campus and sharing a washroom with several people.
2nd semester
March-June time period:
Then came the 2nd semester, by now everything became so mechanical and I didn’t know how to cope with these changes. I did not know how to process the fact that my school life was taken away from me, so easily & how quickly things changed, and honestly, I don’t want to. I wanted to continue floating with time and not confront the fact that I did not and would not have a college experience.
All I could do was hope for the best and try to make the most of the situation. During that time, I started taking online classes more seriously. I started to appreciate the flexibility it offered, allowing me to take classes from the comfort of my own home since the subjects were too difficult for me if I had to do them in offline classes. Despite this newfound appreciation for online classes, I still missed my school days which I’ll never get any more
I started joining virtual clubs and organizations to talk to new people and expand my interests. I attended online events and webinars hosted by my college, trying to stay connected with the college community. I also took up new hobbies and interests to keep myself occupied during the long hours of online classes.
I was introduced to new levels of knowledge which got introduced in this semester such as Chemistry, Professional Communication, Engineering Drawing, Math-II, Intro to Programming ( using C language ) and Biology
Each of these courses presented unique challenges and opportunities for learning. Chemistry taught me about the properties and interactions of matter, while Professional Communication helped me develop crucial skills for communicating effectively in a professional setting. Engineering Drawing (which was boring as well) allowed me to hone my skills in technical drawing and visualization, and Math II challenged me to think critically and logically.
Perhaps most exciting of all was the opportunity to learn programming with the C language through Intro to Programming. This course opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me, allowing me to develop my skills in computer science and explore the world of coding and software development.
Overall, the second semester of college was a time of growth and learning for me, as I was introduced to new levels of knowledge and challenged to push myself in new ways.
