Final Post - Victoria Nemeth

To say this past year has been a crazy one is an understatement.  I have grown so much over the past year.  From going to Greece, then spending a few months at Northeastern, and now being at home studying for finals.  It has been one crazy year. 

It’s difficult to put this year into one blog post because so much has changed. I’m so thankful for the people I met during the NUin program and at Northeastern, who have helped make this year an unforgettable one.  I’ve seen so many places that I only dreamed of seeing, and have countless memories to go along with them. My semester abroad gave me so many amazing friends and experiences and taught me so much.  I gained so much independence, learned how to plan trips, navigate airports and bus stations, time manage between social life and school, and I learned a lot about my own potential.  I never knew I was so adaptable, open minded, and able to handle such a big transition.  Through this experience I gained more confidence in my abilities academically and I gained confidence in my life skills.  I never truly lived on my own before, so I had to learn how to keep myself on a schedule for grocery shopping and laundry, while making sure I kept up with my studies, and made time to explore Thessaloniki and Europe with my friends.  

In the past I’ve always been a procrastinator.  During my senior year, I procrastinated everything from reading a book for English to waiting until the day before to buy shoes for prom.  I even waited a significant amount of time to make a college decision. When I got to Thessaloniki, I realized that time management would be my best friend and procrastination would be my worst enemy.  I truly had to teach myself to make sure even though my assignments and tests were far away that I kept up with them before things piled up.  I also wanted to travel on the weekends, so I had to make sure that I got all my schoolwork done beforehand.  One of the most helpful skills I learned from my time in Greece was time management.  

Even though I made so much growth over the past year, I still have some goals for myself in the future. Ever since I can remember, I haven’t been able to speak up in class.  I can probably count on both hands how many times I’ve actually raised my hand in all of my school years.  I want to set a goal for myself to start to raise my hand in classes, and have the confidence that my contributions are valid and insightful. I also want to set a goal of being more involved on campus.  I joined a few clubs this semester, but next semester I hope to find clubs that I am passionate about and make more of a commitment to sticking with them. I want to set a goal for myself to have confidence in my path and knowing that it’s ok to not have everything figured out right now.  Lastly, I want to keep up with writing for myself in some capacity. In the past, writing in a journal has been a great outlet, and I think that would be a great thing to keep up next semester.  

Thank you for a great semester, Professor Stockman!