My daughter felt the same as you last year with very similar concerns about her choice, her friends (they all went to colleges close to our hometown too!). Neither was she into sports and she was at this sports focused school. One thing she recognized is that orientation events were not comfortable for her–they felt artificial to her. Once orientation activities were well past awn she delved into the day to day work load it became easier to acclimate. I think it may have taken a bit longer than 1 semester–it could have been well into the second semester when it creeped up on her how much she loved her school. She can’t get back fast enough for sophomore year. Also, she was open minded and tried new things-- found that she enjoyed the football games and some of the traditional chants made her laugh. Her approach was to tackle each day as it came. Friends were naturally made through the heavy course load and work projects.