I would be lying if I said I was prepared for coming to college. Living alone has been a huge challenge for me. Things like making my bed, doing my laundry, and washing dishes were always left undone, or done by my parents. Yes, my parents could have done more to prepare me by making me do things independently. But, I take full responsibility. I should have always been cleaner and more on top of things, just like how I should have saved up more money. I just didn’t realize what a challenge living on my own would be. I have overcome this though. By setting a high standard for myself, and making sure my room is presentable for my roommate, I have become a much cleaner and responsible person.
Another challenge coming to college has presented to me, was differentiating what was friend time and what was work time. First semester, I rarely got work done because I struggled to set aside time to do it. I almost always was hanging out with friends and never actually did my work. This was not just a personal problem, it was one that all of my friends also dealt with. We recognized this, and now we set aside time to go to the library. We don’t leave until all of us are done with the day’s work. Another thing we have collectively decided upon, is moving plans, if we have work to do. First semester, our thought process was “I have a paper, I’ll just do it later,” Now, we make sure its done before we can have our movie night. This way, we actually have our work done, and deserve the movie night, or “family” dinner that we had to postpone.