Semester In review

Declan Matzig

Height: 6'2.25"

Blood Type: A minus

Class: Sophomore

The city is impenetrable. From where I sit it seems impossible how large the towers loom over me. It's unnatural that I walk out of my lecture on the last day and see new faces among my classmates. Something isn't right here, something's off. I think it's me. It might be everyone else. All their faces blur into one. Maybe we were never supposed to see so many people at once, my biology is going haywire from all of this new stimulus. All of a sudden, I feel new things. I'm manically reserved. I'm overwhelmed doing nothing. I don't belong here but I know where I do and I can't for the life of me remember why the hell I left that spot in the first place.

It's my first Semester here at UIC. I transferred in from a little tiny baby town of 47,000 people called Plainfield. I bet you're wondering what a small town girl like me is doing in the big apple. Other than my curiosity of what it's like to have modern conveniences such as running water and being erroneously led to believe I'd be able to meet Al Capone, I really needed a change. 19 years of my life I spent in my bubble of comfort. It was great! I know I'm so privileged to have such a great support system at home and a family that gave me the space I needed to grow but I needed to change things. I've learned that I won't change if I don't have to and at home I didn't have to. So, I transferred to UIC and I'm dorming up here. It's weird, when you live your entire life in the same spot, you don't even really realize all the little things that'll be different. Like at my house, I know its sounds intimately. I know who's in the hallway by the weight of their steps, the drone of the house is soothing. I took it for granted and I miss it. I miss always being a shout away from my mom. I needed to leave though, for my own sake. This semester has been crazy for me. In the beginning I didn't know what I was doing, I was always homesick and barely making any friends. I was so set on what my college experience should be like that when it didn't live up to that, I got really sad about it. Luckily with a little bit of time and joining radio I've started meeting really cool people and making awesome new friends. For the first time in a while I'm having fun again, I get to talk to so many people and build these dope new relationships. So ultimately this semester I'd say is a success and we're only going up from here baby! Making Friends, UIC radio's number one radio show! MILLIONS of listeners in 2025! BILLIONS of friends made! I will be like the Troy Bolton of UIC! BIG muscles coming in 2025! BOOYAAAH!