Angelcakes – College Life

Breath In and Breath Out

Two of the biggest things I wish I would have known coming to college as a freshman, would have been to not stress over all the little things and how to manage my time. My first few weeks of college were an absolute nightmare. Between trying to make new friends and perfect all my homework assignments, I felt as if I were drowning. It wasn’t until week three that I finally took a step back and realized, wait a second, what’s wrong with only having one close friend at college? Why do I feel the need to stress over every homework assignment and double and triple check things? I wish I could go back and tell myself at the beginning of the school year to tell myself that it is okay to relax and it’s okay to take a break if something is stressing you out. Looking back, I think in those first few weeks I was struggling with my time management because I was so worried about trying to make everything perfect that I forgot the importance of having down time.

One thing that I think all incoming freshmen should be told is that it is okay to struggle. But when you get to the point where you are realizing this, you should take a step back and wonder. When was the last time I called my parents, hung out with friends, went and to get food or just sat back and did absolutely nothing. If your answer to this is “I don’t know” that’s completely okay, it just means that you should sit down and make plans for the next couple of days out. A plan helps you balance out your homework, social time, and your personal time. You still might be struggling in classes or over preparing for something, but at least you have something to look forward to in the near future. If you just keep on working with no set time or goal at the end you are going to burn yourself out. This is why learning how to better manage your time in your first few weeks of school and learning to not stress over the little things is crucial for you to have a happier and more successful college experience.

Double-Edged Living

Overall dorm life isn’t the worst thing to ever happen to me, but it also isn’t the best. Growing up, I had a room all to myself, one that was twice the size of my dorm room that I am currently living in. It took some adjusting to get used to living in a small space with someone I barely knew. Luckily both my roommate and I are flexible and set boundaries right from the start. Having a roommate is a great way to start college life. Especially the first few days of school when you really don’t know anyone else. It was nice to have someone to eat with and go to events with. It helped me not feel so alone. Another great thing about dorm life is the location. Since you are so close to the college, you can sleep in if you want. Technically, I can wake up 30 minutes before my first class of the day and still make it on time. I don’t have to worry about driving conditions or finding a good parking space.

However, dorm life isn’t perfect either. One big thing I would like to mention is that the dorm walls are paper thin. Noisy neighbors are hard to block, which can be very annoying at times. Like why does it take someone two hours to vacuum a dorm and why do they find it necessary to start spilling tea at ten o’clock at night in the middle of the hallway where everyone can hear. Another thing I would like to complain about is the heat register. I swear if I don’t have my window open, it’s about a hundred degrees in my dorm. Oh, and I can’t forget about my dorm’s kitchen. I tried baking chocolate chip cookies in the oven, and it took them over an hour to bake. Meanwhile, the oven was making some strange sounds; I was afraid it was going to explode. Overall, though dorm-life isn’t too bad. It isn’t home but it is “home away from home” for now.

Reality Check

During my last few years of high school, all I thought about was college. I thought that once I graduated high school and was able to go to college, my life would be so much better. In high school I thought that college would be the place where I would find my people, a place where I would be learning things I wanted to and a place to reach my goal of teaching abroad. Now, I can’t say that I am completely wrong on the reality of college, but it isn’t all rainbows and unicorns like I imagined it would be. For the most part things are going well. I have good professors, a good roommate, and I am doing well when it comes to staying on top of homework.

However, school is still school, and I still find myself not wanting to go to my classes. I still struggle with my mental health, and procrastination. I also miss my home a lot more than I thought I would. I am not going to lie, during my first week of college, I felt like I had gotten hit by a bus. It was rough being in a new place where I didn’t know anyone and didn’t know my way around; I felt lonely and afraid. I was second guessing myself and wondering if maybe this whole college thing was just one big mistake. Thankfully, now that I am getting into a routine and am learning new things, I am beginning to see why I thought college was going to be so much better than high school. I am beginning to see the paths that I could take that could lead to lifelong friendships and accomplishing my goals.