By Shira Kramer, Managing Editor
Sophomore year is supposed to be settling and relieving. The first year of college is behind you, friends have already been made, and everything is comfortable. For transfer students, however, that is not the case. We, transfer students, go through the Freshman year-like beginning twice. Now as a junior, I feel that I can finally breathe, only just in time for college to soon be over.
During my first year of college, I learned what didn’t work. I learned that I wanted teachers to know my name and to be able to turn around in class and spot a familiar face. I learned that you have to cherish the city that surrounds you because it is your escape from the jail that classes hold you in. In November of my freshman year, I visited what I thought was the perfect school for me: Stern College for Women. As I traveled into Midtown, I remembered why I always had the childhood dream of living there. Being surrounded by skyscrapers made me feel larger than life. I thought that was true independence. I was happy to encounter a group of women who shared the same values as me, looked like me and were proud to be Jewish in whichever way was true for them. I was excited to learn from teachers who reminded me of who I wanted to be once I graduate. Overall, I was inspired by the Torah Umadda concepts that Stern stands on.
That day, I decided to take a leap of faith (because you never know if transferring will turn out the way you hope), and switch to Stern for the following fall semester.
Fortunately, one thing about Stern that worked in my favor, different from other colleges, was that many students come into college as a sophomore due to their seminary year. Therefore, when I entered Stern, it was with people my own age.
Yet, last year, during my second first year of college but first year at Stern, I was shocked to learn more of what didn’t work. While I was still happy that I ended up at Stern, I began to learn more about myself in a place where I could thrive. I learned that I needed to study in order to get good grades. I learned that Judaic classes were not as easy as they were in high school. Most importantly, I found that friends don’t just fall into your lap even if you are in the right college for you. While my peers intrigued me, I was scared to approach people that I could really connect with.
By winter break of last year, I realized that even though I changed colleges, not much had changed about me besides my environment. I still didn’t have the friends I wanted or the classes that I was interested in. I realized that I couldn’t just sit back and wait to be happy, I needed to go out and utilize every opportunity I was presented with.
Therefore, in addition to my work with the YU Observer, I became the vice president of the Students Supporting Israel club (SSI), joined many group chats with opportunities all around Yeshiva University and New York City as a whole, and procured an internship at Jewish Action which expanded my passion for journalism. I made a schedule for myself for when I would do my work and when I would participate in extracurricular activities. I started to raise my hand in class so that teachers would definitely know my name. I met people that I wanted to be friends with and put energy into our friendships to further solidify them.
By the end of the year, I found that I was finally happy in a real way. Leaving my dorm, I felt sad as I packed up all of the memories of my sophomore year. However, unlike the year before, I would be coming back. Maybe not to the same room or the same classes, but Stern would see me again.
The summer was much more relaxing as I wasn’t preparing to begin at a new college all over again. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into and it was one of the best feelings in the world. No, I wasn’t preparing to start over, but rather, for something much better: starting again.
Photo Caption: Outside 245 Lexington Avenue on the YU Beren campus
Photo Credit: Emily Goldberg