Berkeley, you da best!!! {The Thankful Project}

November 3 & 4: A Place and An Experience

I'm writing these two prompts together, because they go hand in hand. Essentially they are one in the same, but one wouldn't have happen if the other didn't exist.

I'm extremely thankful to have had the experience of going to college. As I've mention before, my college experience was not a walk in the park. I don't think no ones is, unless you are extremely smart. The first year was the hardest. I was so homesick at Berkeley that I wanted to dropout and come back home. Keep in mind it's only 1hr 15 mins on plane, and 6 hours in a car. With the help of my family and my friends they pushed me to finish the semester, and then finish the first year, and even finish the second year.

Berkeley, has a stigma. Definetely good, a top public school of the nation. But to me, it just meant more pressure. I was far from a brainiac, I struggled a lot in my classes, but I'm grateful to have meet classmates who were struggling like me, who would want to study together.

My second year, I got involved in this amazing organization called Hermanas Unidas. It was a support system that was available to the women of Berkeley to gives us support and resources to help us succeed. It a student led organization. Joining that organization was the best decision I made at Berkeley. Through Hermanas Unidas I met some amazing women, that I now call my best friends. And the best part was that, in 1994 the Berkeley chapter was the very first chapter of Hermanas Unidas Inc. When I first joined Hermanas I think there were about 11 chapters along California, now 19 years later there are 19 chapters!! In my third and fourth year I became part of the board for my chapter. The best experience!!

Berkeley has shaped me to the person I am today. It has seen me come out from my shell, become a little bit more confident, helped me speak up for what I believed in (still trying). Berkeley has seen the good times, and the really bad times. But if I had the chance to do it over, I would, because those experiences at Berkeley made me who I am. I met my best friends, and I grew personally, mentally, and psychologically.

 Thank you Berkeley!!!!!