Personal Narrative: My First Calculus Class

Over 300 strangers surrounded me and I had never felt more comfortable and secure. It was the first day of my freshman year at Penn State and I had just walked into my first calculus class. Math had never been easy for me, and while this alone should have made me worried, as I entered the lecture hall I felt an overwhelming sense of peace. I found an open seat in the middle of the classroom, and as I began to take in all the unfamiliar faces around me I couldn’t help but smile because for the first time in my life it felt as if no one even noticed I was there.
New schools and new faces were not a foreign concept to me. Prior to attending Penn State, I had already lived in seven completely different places, and in turn had also attended seven very different schools. As a first grader I spent my weekends running on the beach and playing in the crystal blue waters of Hawaii. In

Because of this, I felt the pressure to always work a little harder because I knew that my work was being monitored more closely than everyone else’s. Other students were always watching I spoke to and were always trying to listen in to what I talked about. Therefore, I become cognizant of my actions and the way I acted towards others. At home, my parents were constantly concerned about how I was adjusting, and as a means to avoid upsetting them, I forced myself to only focus on and divulge the positive things that were happening in my life. While on the surface this amount of attention may seem desirable, over the years it became quite draining and my ability to present a perfect façade wore thin. Consequently, when it came time to attend college I knew that I needed to go to a school where the population was large enough for me to blend in, and for four years at Penn State I was able to do just