Moreau Integration #2 PDF




Professor Pruitt

Moreau FYE Integration #2

3 December 2021

Learning to Keep Moving Ahead

When I got into Notre Dame I was at work being a hostess at the very restaurant and job I 

had written about for my college essay.  Getting into Notre Dame surrounded by my coworkers, 

family visiting me, and even random strangers looking on was a very happy day and probably 

one of the happiest days of my parents’ lives.  However, as overjoyed as I was to get into Notre 

Dame, I didn’t decide to attend until 6 months later.  I had been raised on Notre Dame.  My 

parents both went to college and met here.  Growing up consisted of visiting South Bend once a 

year for football games.  The only college sports team I knew for a while was the Irish.  After 

hearing about how amazing this place is from all my family members throughout my entire 

childhood, I had very high expectations when eventually choosing to come here.  Now, having 

experienced it for myself, I realize there are both many joys and challenges to college.  As I 

continue to make Notre Dame my home, I hope to remember what I have encountered this 

semester and how I have learned from my first experiences here.

When getting to college, I think the first thing people tend to encounter is other people.  

New relationships begin fast and grow quickly the first couple weeks of freshman year.  I have 

been very lucky so far to have found friends I really get along with.  Especially at Notre Dame, 

you also get a strong community.  Whether in a club, sports team, often in the dorm, or even 

around the whole campus Notre Dame has a sense of community wherever you find yourself.  In 

week eleven of Moreau, we discussed encountering communities and the importance of everyone 



feeling welcomed and uplifted.  We watched a video about why diversity matters in which 

Professor Agustin Fuentes says, “Exposure and access to different types of people, to different 

life experiences, to different ways of seeing the world offers insight and allows us to be in a 

position to think about change” (“Diversity Matters!” by Prof. Agustin Fuentes - Moreau FYE 

Week Eleven).  Notre Dame is not the most diverse college in the world, yet still I feel very 

lucky to be at a place where I get to meet people from all over the country and all over the world.  

At home nearly all my friends were from North Carolina.  Here, I have friends from Seattle, New 

York, Chicago, and even Tokyo.  I find it so exciting to meet people with backgrounds different 

from mine but find similarities between our personalities or shared interests.   

 As exciting as it is to meet so many new, fun people at college, the transition also comes 

with loneliness. Back at home, my friends were so important to me.  We had known each other 

for a while and grown close after many shared memories.  I dearly miss my old high school 

friends but it’s not the same since they are busy and far away.  I love my new college friends but 

the relationships are different because they don’t know everything about me the way my 

hometown friends and family do.  In week nine of Moreau we investigated how to deal with both 

external and internal dissonance.  We watched a video and read an article about Emery 

Bergmann — creator of a viral video about the struggles of college freshman year.  Throughout 

the article she gives advice to her past self and other college freshmen.  Sharing her thoughts on 

the nature of loneliness she says, “Expecting close relationships like the ones that had taken 

years to develop was unfair to myself and the people around me” (“Advice From a Formerly 

Lonely College Student” by Emery Bergmann - Moreau FYE Week Nine). Intimate relationships 

are something I really value in my life and going to college and being away from home for the 



first time by yourself makes that hard.  However I’ve had to remember that isn’t fair to yourself 

to spend your energy missing people at home or worrying that college isn’t perfect just yet.  

Something that continues to surprise me is how close you can get to people in such a short 

amount of time.  I have only known my fellow Notre Dame students for a few months and I 

already can’t imagine my life here without some of my friends.  Now, I walk into my friends 

dorm without knocking and eat the majority of my meals with them.  As I continue to meet 

people and grow closer to my new friends, I hope to respond by remembering that however 

uncertain you may feel at times, I have been very lucky already and it is an exciting thing to get 

to meet new people. 

 I have never really loved is change.  In first grade I moved from downtown Chicago to 

the suburbs.  Seven years later right before eighth grade I moved across the country from Illinois 

to Charlotte, North Carolina.  Both times I moved I was resentful and worried about leaving 

everything behind and all the aspects of my life that were about to change.  However, both times, 

soon enough after arriving I was already so grateful for all the new experiences and people I 

encountered, I just couldn’t see the positive side initially.  This is a lesson I continue to learn.  I 

was so excited for college — the interesting classes, the new people, the freedom — but at the 

same time I was devastated to leave my friends, my dog, my family, my bed, and the list goes on.  

I don’t think people talk enough about the ups and downs of the transition to college.  I don’t 

mean to complain because overall I have had a relatively smooth time.  I have good grades, good 

friends, a good roommate situation, and I do well living on my own.  However most people 

romanticize the college experience so much that the low points can feel overwhelming, and 

almost off putting — this is supposed to be the best four years of your life right? Simply put, 



what truly helps me keep everything in perspective is remembering that it’s normal.  In week 

twelve of Moreau we read an excerpt from the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis in which a 

senior demon gives insight to a lesser demon on the nature of humans in order to better corrupt 

them.  By reading between the lines of these letters you can see Lewis’s own perspective on the 

human experience.  Within the letter, the demon says of a human, “As long as he lives on earth 

periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness will alternate with periods of numbness 

and poverty” (“The Screwtape Letters” Chapter 8 by C.S. Lewis - Moreau FYE Week Twelve).  I 

think this quote really gives a nice perspective to life by reminds us that ups and downs are 

normal.  Although certain things can be hard especially at college — never being alone, not 

being able to see my family, and so much work you feel like it will never get done — it is natural 

to feel stressed and sad and overwhelmed.  In a sense, it is a beautiful thing to be able to 

experience the entire range of emotion. Change is an inevitable part of life, as are changing 

emotions.  This leads me to my next point and the final lesson I have encountered at college — 

realizing the goal isn’t to be happy all the time.  In week ten of Moreau one of the pieces of 

content was a video from artist Kirsten Helgeson who specializizes in Kintsugi — a form of 

healing pottery in which items are broken and paved back together with gold.  In the video, 

Kirsten says about those doing the pottery workshop, “They learn that the things that they’ve 

experienced — the good, the bad, the ugly, all of that — it has made them this beautiful, 

dynamic, interesting person that they are today. And that that person is worth celebrating and 

honoring” (“Women Find Healing Through Kintsugi Workshop” by the Grotto - Moreau FYE 

Week Ten). I really enjoyed the message of kintsugi because I think it symbolizes this lesson that 

I am continuously reminded of — the point of life isn’t to be happy all the time.  College can feel 



like there’s a million things you need to do.  On top of classes and social life, figuring out how to 

live on your own and with your own schedule is responsibility enough not to mention 

extracurriculars.  After putting so much pressure on myself academically the first month, I 

realized all too quickly it is easy to get burnt out and feel discouraged and overwhelmed.  I used 

to have this mindset that I if I could solve all my problems and minimize stress and negativity 

and pain, I would be completely satisfied in life. I think it is very natural for us to want to never 

be sad and avoid heartbreak at all costs, but it truly isn’t a realistic goal or accurate picture of 

human life. As I move forward at college, it helps me to remember that self worth doesn’t come 

from achievement or productivity and that stress and sadness are normal.  

 In conclusion, college has been amazing and hard at the same time.  I’ve met so many 

amazing people that have already taught me so much but I’ve also felt a different kind of 

loneliness than I ever have.  To handle all this I’ve had to remember that intimate relationships 

take time, and so does figuring out how to live on your own and what schedule works best for 

you.  The most important thing I’ve learned as I’ve encountered various challenges in my first 

semester at college is to put things in perspective.  By taking things one day at a time, being kind 

to myself, and responding by simply learning to continue moving ahead my life has become 

more balanced and happier.