Personal Narrative: Freshman Year Of College

Freshman year of college. It was the year that held my emotions in a turbulent roller coaster ride; on this ride however, there were no seatbelts. Growing up, life was a constant smooth run and I rarely ever had to deal with unbearable situations. I enjoyed writing and teaching. Naturally, I was working towards becoming a high school English teacher, just like Ms. Mirmozaffari, my favorite person throughout my high school career. I was accepted and chose to go to the University of Maryland, College Park as an English Literature and Secondary Education major, partially affected by the fact that it was Ms. M’s undergraduate school. Life seemed predictable and it allowed me to feel in peace knowing what my life was headed to. My plan seemed flawless and until this time, life was literally a sailing ship on a calm sea. However, such effortless life style came to an end unannounced and the next few years was the most strenuous time of my life, yet the most precious and the valuable experience of my life.

It was almost impossible for me to wake up in the morning to attend my classes and staying in bed only made me feel groggier. This could not have been a simple common cold, or else I would have already felt better after reaching out for my bottle of Advil’s. I began to worry regarding what was happening to my body and despite of the absurdly expensive hospital bills, I went to a medical institute and did some blood work. Later, I was diagnosed with a systematic lupus, which is an autoimmune disease where your immune system attacks your own body whenever it has a flare. Frightening as it sounds, no one can ever know when my body will be attacked and there was no cure. Not knowing what is to come in the future turned my life upside down since this was the total opposite of how I have always lived my