As someone who came to UTD from Ohio, entering a university while not knowing anyone and in a state 1000 miles away from the rest of my family was a huge challenge. I am quite a shy person when meeting new people and have trouble finding the motivation to talk to new people. It was a hard transition to a new state and a new school of almost 30,000 people. At times I felt like I was stranded in the middle of the ocean. I hated the thought of meeting new people, constantly worried that they wouldn’t like me upon introduction. As someone with terrible anxiety, this was a nightmare.
Until I found Comet Life.
The first semester of freshman year, I moved into the dorms and actually had quite an easy time making friends with my two roommates. But they were my only friends for a while and they didn’t have a single lecture with me. I can’t exactly remember how, but one day I remember finding the Comet Life social media. I saw a lot of photos of some really cool friend groups and genuinely wanted to find a group like that. I recognized one of the girls I had seen all over the CL instagram as being the girl that sat next to me during all of the gen chem lectures. Comet Life had done freshman introductions before the semester started and I recognized some of the faces in her friend group from faces I had seen in the introductions. I hadn’t ever talked to her, but she seemed super nice and fun from what I had seen of her on the CL social media. I finally found the courage to talk to her, and can now say she is one of my closest friends at UTD. Comet Life is a student org that honestly contributed to my ability to build up the courage to talk to this one girl. By talking to this one girl, I have now found a friend group of 10 people that have made UTD such a great place for me. On top of that, I am super passionate about photography. I decided during my second semester that I wanted to apply for the photography team after seeing the photos on the CL social media. Not only has the student org helped connect me to my amazing group of friends, but it has given me an opportunity to pursue something I am passionate about while also continuing my studies. I am now a Senior Photographer for CL and have met even more amazing people on the CL team! Comet Life is truly an amazing organization that helps connect students to each other. The team is passionate, spirited, and genuinely some of the nicest people I have met on campus. CL is one big family that helped kickstart my 4 years of college at UTD, and I cannot be more thankful for the people CL connected me to and the opportunities it has provided for me.
