My first semester at the University of Vermont has been the most challenging yet rewarding experience of my life so far. I entered school not knowing a single person out of the 11,000 students at UVM. As a kid who’s spent his entire life living on a small and sheltered island, where everyone knows everyone, this transition was a bit of a shock. Now, only a couple months later, I can look back on those first few weeks of school and laugh. I have found a really close group of friends, made the club baseball team, and settled into the college routine. I could not be happier with my new life at school, and I am loving every second of college. Academically, I am really proud of what I accomplished in my first semester at UVM. Classes such as Calculus and Biology covered many difficult topics, but with a lot of hard work and studying, I was able to achieve high grades in each. In a special research course for life science majors, I took an in depth look at how honey bees communicate with one another. I found this work fascinating, and ended up writing an eight page research paper on the topic, which received high praise from my professor. All these courses required a lot of work, but came relatively easy to me. On the other hand, Chemistry did not come easy whatsoever. I have never taken a more difficult and work intensive course. Countless hours were spent in tutoring sessions, studying in the library, and working with my peers. In the end, all this hard work did not lead to the grade I was hoping for, and I will have to work even harder next semester.