Blog Post #12 - Victoria Nemeth

One of my friends texted our group chat and wrote that we have a week and a half left of classes.  After I read that, I had to read it again, and then go check my calendar because I just thought that was crazy.  I thought it was crazy that somehow I am almost finished with my first year of college. I feel like this year has been a whirlwind, it’s been full of so many changes, transitions, challenges.  It is crazy to me that somehow in the span of my freshman year, I travelled through Europe, came back to Northeastern and got my bearings on campus, and then now am finishing my freshman year at home doing online classes.  Nothing about our freshman year has been ordinary.  

A year ago I didn’t know where I wanted to go to school, let alone thought that I was going to travel through Europe and be back at home come March.  I think it’s so crazy how much can change in so little time. I have some friends who are seniors in high school now, and I can’t imagine the stress of trying to pick a college right now.  Some of them have texted me asking for advice, and I try to help as much as I can. Last year I toured as many schools as I could, talked to as many student ambassadors as I could, went to as many information sessions as I could in order to make my decision.  NUin seemed crazy and way too out of the ordinary for me to pick up and start my first semester of college abroad, but going to those information sessions and talking to the students about their experiences helped me immensely.  

This past week, one of my dad’s friends from work asked him if I could get in touch with his kid who is thinking about doing NUin.  He wanted some advice, some information about the program, and an overall summary of what my experience was like. I tried to help as much as I could and sometimes I think it was very overwhelming because how could I pack my whole experience into texts?  But it really got me thinking because if I wasn’t able to tour Northeastern or go to all the information sessions or hear from all the student ambassadors about their experiences, I know without a doubt that I wouldn’t be attending Northeastern.  

I became an NUin ambassador this semester to try to help students like me who didn’t think they were capable of going abroad for their first semester to help them to see that they aren’t alone and that I was also like them.  One of the ambassadors I talked to when I was thinking about the program said “if you told me a year ago that I would go abroad for my first semester of college, I would’ve told you that you were crazy.” I think in that moment I (and my mom) knew that I was going to commit to Northeastern and go to Greece for the first semester because that was exactly how I was feeling.  I knew I wanted it, but I was too scared to go for it. I wasn’t able to do much of what NUin ambassadors do for the spring semester, but being able to help that one kid makes me feel like I’ve at least done something.