Learning Process

The last semester I struggled a lot with time management as well as feeling lost.  I felt a little lost going into the semester because I did not really know many people or the campus.  Since I commute to school, I felt as I was missing the college experience as well as falling behind in making connections with people.  I started to join some organizations around campus and began to be more active in the community.  When I began doing this, I felt more included as well as more comfortable.  I began to feel as I did belong in college and some of the people I met expressed that they felt a similar way, which comforted me in a weird way.  It felt as I was not as alone as I felt and that everyone had a sense of feeing lost and alone.

Looking back to my first semester, I had set unrealistic expectations for myself.  I was taking 15 credits as well as working 30-hour weeks.  I felt overwhelmed, as if there was never enough time, and that there was always something I had to be do.  I felt overworked, so I decided to cut my hours at work to 15 hours a week.  If I am honest, cutting my hours was probably one of the most important factors to my success last semester.  I began to feel less stressed and overwhelmed.  I honestly think that going through these difficult times early in my college career will help me in the future.  I now know how to manage my workload as well as understand that it’s perfectly normal to feel out of place sometimes.