To be completely honest, the LMU pre-college program definitely brought me out of my comfort zone the first few days. I had never been away from home for that long and I started worrying about silly things like how other people viewed me. I am a very introverted person. It took me about 3-4 days to really start adapting to my surroundings and lose the anxiety I was feeling my first days there. Now that the program is over, I want to be a student there.

Luckily, I had the privilege of having a close friend who also signed up for the program there with me those 2 weeks to guide me and make my time there more comfortable. But regardless of having a friend there with me, I still was able to meet people with completely different backgrounds and have a glimpse of what it means to be a college student.

My roommates were also very kind and I am keeping in touch with them through social media at the moment. We all had common interests like make-up, boy bands, and old Disney shows. They were also very understanding of my need to be alone at times and even so, we all had great times together. I have always been more of a morning person, so I would usually be the first one awake from the 3 of them. I just love the feeling of having a warm cup of coffee in the morning, as well as having time to myself.

I took an Environmental Science course my time there and the professor had a great sense of humor. I am not going to lie, I found the class kind of intimidating at first because we were encouraged to take plenty of notes and were taught many things that felt like a foreign language to me. But the professor clearly told us the first day, "Without even knowing how to swim, I will throw you into the ocean." Perhaps it wasn't exactly what he said (as in word per word) but the message definitely stayed with me those 2 weeks. It made me feel less bad whenever I didn't understand something, and it reminded me that he was not going to teach us as if we were High School students. He was going to teach us as undergraduates, because that was the program's purpose.

For our first weekend, we went on two amazing field trips. We went to Disneyland on Saturday (July 1st) and I had a great time getting on all the rides. We also went to Santa Monica Pier on Sunday (July 2nd), and I got on a roller coaster there too. This probably wasn't the purpose of the program at all, but I think it helped me get rid of my fear of roller coasters...

I would definitely recommend this program to anybody who may be interested in it because the professors are great and the campus is absolutely beautiful. The two weeks will pass in the blink of an eye and you will definitely meet new friends there. Some advice that I will give to future students attending the program will be that it's okay to feel sad and uncomfortable the first few days. It's okay if you don't understand what you are learning at times or if you aren't as "intelligent" as the other students there. It's okay if your background is different from others. It is all part of the program's official purpose: To make you feel like a college student.

I am so excited to attend this program! It is my first time staying overnight at a school and I am really looking forward to it. I have never even been to LMU, so I am also thrilled to visit the campus for the first time.