(As told to Elena Cunningham)

What does a day in your life at Michigan look like? 

My Mondays and Wednesdays start at 10 a.m. so usually I wake up a little later and walk to my first class, Art History, which is a little further from my dorm. Then I go to lunch, and I do a little work, usually in a really pretty library. I have one more class on Mondays and Wednesdays, but it’s just a little one hour discussion, so I’m done by 3 p.m. on those days, and I usually go study or hang out with my friends, get some dinner, that kind of thing.

Tuesdays and my Thursdays are my more packed days, because I was able to get Fridays off this semester, which is the only time that’s ever going to happen. It’s awesome. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get up a little earlier to get ready, because those are my days where I’m more locked in and I have to pay attention. They are lecture heavy days. I eat lunch before I go to classes those days, because it’s more of a normal lunchtime. I’ve got my Ecology class at 11:30 a.m. that goes until 1:00 p.m., and then 2:20 p.m. is my first psych class, Social Psych. Right after that, I have my other psych lecture, which is my favorite class right now. It’s led by this amazing professor; I like that lecture. On Tuesdays, I’m done at 4 p.m. On Thursdays, I have a class from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. It’s my discussion for that Social Psych class. And then, Thursdays are really nice because they’re basically my Friday. So even though it’s 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no breaks, and a lot of walking in the snow, I’m done and I know Friday’s coming.

After that, I’ve got a three day weekend. Usually on Fridays, I sleep in a little and then I use that as my work-heavy day, so that I have my weekends free, which is really nice. It will be good for podcasts now.

What activities are you involved in?

The big one that I was going for this year was the Michigan Daily because I knew once I got into that, I would have to commit a lot more time. I’m going to do that for 4 years, so that’s the fun one.

I’m also thinking of joining just some smaller organizations. I think there’s a service one, and an environment one that I’m looking at, too.

Club fair at Michigan is super crowded, which made it a little less enticing to join all of them because you’re shoulder to shoulder with people.

At a big school, how did you find your people and make friends? 

My first friend there was my roommate because I went in knowing absolutely nobody. If you go to school around here (North Carolina), you’re going to see people you know, but out there, it’s a completely new pool of people. I’m a small fish in a huge pond.

After I met my roommate, I met my friends within my dorm, which is smaller and houses mostly freshmen. I made a good group of friends in my dorm, which is convenient.

I also made friends in a lot of my classes. Two of my best friends were in English with me last semester, and we still hang out, even though we’re not in classes together.

I think clubs are a big way to meet friends as well. The Daily is where I’m going to find a lot of friends, too, because they’re people who are doing the exact same thing as me.

What was the process for finding The Daily, and getting in? 

I heard about it before I went in, because I was surprised that at such a huge school, there’s no journalism program. My major is in Communications and Media, since it’s the closest thing, but I heard about The Daily before I applied, and I knew it was the route that I had to take, if I want to do anything journalism related.

Not everyone on The Daily is a Communications major though, because it’s generally a good club to have. It’s one of the biggest over a thousand student organizations. I heard about it, and then last semester, I decided to apply to Arts and Podcasts, because I wanted to take a different route than I did in high school.

This semester, I applied to an art magazine, like a fashion blog, and applied to Podcasts one more time, just to see if they let me in. I got it in, and they have second round interviews, where they narrowed it down to five people. And I was one of the five, and then you pick a time, and you go in and you talk to a couple of the main editors for podcasts and you just chat with them; I had a great time.

Then a couple days later, I got the email. I was volunteering for my environment class and I started freaking out. I was with my little group and I was like, guys, you won’t believe the email I just got. It was really exciting.

I start my training after spring break, which I’m looking forward to.

Do you know what the training involves? 

Since it’s not the technical stuff, I assume it’s just meeting the people, maybe seeing what creating a regular episode entails. So, they’ll probably tell me about the main ideas they’re working on right now, and how they get an idea out of that, make the script, and record it. I’ll probably learn about the technology they use and how they publish a podcast.

What’s been the most surprising thing about college? 

That it’s a huge school. You don’t realize how many people there are until you’re sitting in the football stadium, and looking around you.

The thing about college in general, not just Michigan, is how different it is from high school. We learn so much because the students and professors want to be there. I think I have a professor that was from Princeton, and it’s so cool that he’s teaching a class here.

And being around all these people from all over the world. One of my best friends is from Los Angeles. I think that’s cool being in a completely new pool of people and professors and careers. It’s really fun.

Also, career life is cool. I love seeing people find themselves.