- Okay. So pick up the iPad and I want you to play clip 1.
- (clapping)
- But I look so little.
- Oh my God.
- I was like, oh, this is just gonna be a fun interview.
I'm not gonna cry but yeah.
- That's crazy.
- I remember how nervous I was at the beginning of the year,
so it's funny to watch
- (upbeat music playing)
- On my journey here to Syracuse.
I was kind of in disbelief.
I've been looking forward to college for the last four years
of high school and all of a sudden it's here
and now that I'm here, it's incredible.
It's, it's so much better than I could've expected
I'm like tearing up
Oh my gosh.
- (laughing)
I don't know.
So much has changed.
I'm like getting a little emotional about it.
Really I've had the opportunity to just do whatever my
heart desires and that level of freedom is unmatched.
It just like I've been able to join a bunch
of cool clubs and make a lot
of really great friends and had I gone anywhere else
I wouldn't have been able to meet those people.
- This week's been pretty crazy so far.
I am very excited.
I think to, you know, feel things out here
and get a new start, explore some, maybe new interests
go deeper into some.
So I'm excited for that.
- Cute.
Syracuse
I came in thinking it was gonna make this huge place where
there's going to be thousands of people that you don't know
at the same time
I recognize the same faces every day.
I can walk around campus and see people I know
- I wanted to come to Syracuse since I was a freshman.
And so it is nervous because it's like college
and it's scary, but it's also like I've been looking forward
to this since I was like 14 years old.
Like it never really feels real because I have wanted to
go here for so long, which is crazy to think
about. It's definitely nerve-wracking to be a freshman
and to sort of not know what you're getting yourself into
but genuinely every single professor is doing that job
because they want to help college kids. Knowing
that no matter what, like I could just email my professor
and be like, Hey, I'm really struggling with this.
And they would be more than happy to help me out.
You only get a freshman year once.
And so live it out as much as you can.
But at the same time, this is starting your path
for the rest of your college career.
Yeah. So I definitely, I still agree with that sentiment.
What surprised me the most was that I'm not alone in a lot
of my feelings about college, what to expect for the future
trying to make as many friends as possible.
It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who feels
like that.
- I am probably most nervous about probably my classes.
All you hear are warnings
about how much harder they're gonna be.
And I'm not quite sure if that's true.
It's not as bad as I thought it was gonna be.
If you're struggling in a class
the professor's office hours
they're just such a great resource and tool.
- I think I'm nervous about the snow
because from where I come from, it doesn't snow a lot.
But again, given the weather now, I, I
it's really hard to imagine that it gets the most snow.
I'm really like scared of, you know, slipping on snow.
- So my roommate is local.
So she really helped me with how to like layer up
get the right jackets, the coats and everything.
So that was helpful.
I come from India
and it's a tropical country and I got used to it.
It's not that bad at all
- I'm most looking forward to college.
If that makes sense, like anything to do with it
in my classes, if I'm going to end up finding out this year
what specific communications major I wanna follow
or if I'm still gonna be looking around, well
still undeclared.
- (chuckles)
And there's nothing wrong with that.
My advisor has given me a lot
of reassurance that there's nothing wrong
with still being undeclared.
I am keeping my options open.
- I've never been more excited and nervous at the same time.
You know, I'm thinking
about all the things that I'm not necessarily
leaving behind in Houston, but just definitely
like things I'm going to miss
and then all the new things I'm gonna experience here.
Yeah, so I don't know.
That's crazy.
- (chuckles)
I mean, obviously I miss home.
I miss Houston, but it's also become my second home here.
- Tell me how do you think your first year was?
- I'm still here.
So I think it's going pretty well.
It has had its ups and downs
but I think overall its had more ups than downs
I made deans list my first semester.
So pat on the back for myself.
So I was really proud of that.
- Not that I wasn't really me like before coming to college
but I feel like I'm allowed to just be more authentic
and just put myself out there
and not be afraid of like what people might think of me.
- Oh, it has been fantastic.
It has been like everything I could have ever asked for.
I, I just didn't realize how vast the potential
and the opportunities are gonna be.
I just thought that it's gonna be like, okay, I
I take classes, I do homework.
I get my degree.
That's it.
But no, there's like
so, so, so much more that you could do and get involved in.
- I think it's a lot less scary than I made it out to be.
And I know a lot
of people made that to be in their heads at the beginning.
- You did it -Yes. Oh my gosh.
It's a lot, right.
It's you can't say it's not a lot. It's a lot.
And it's really nice to be like, wow, you did it.
And it's very doable.
It's not easy, but you can do it.