My last semester was very stressful because I was taking 18 credits and working at the Kress. Since this is my first year being away from home also, I was extremely homesick. I missed my family so much and my dog too. The struggle was real last semester because it felt like I was in 6th grade all over again, I had to make new friends and find out where things were. I had a full workload too. In addition, all this stress and workload, my roommate was not the best, she was not supportive or helped in the dorm either. She would leave her dishes on the tiny counter space we had and leave a huge mess whenever she did anything. I had to clean up and make sure the space wasn’t messy. I would take out the trash, clean the bathroom, vacuum, clean up the mirrors, and clean the sink area. Once I would finish cleaning, she would just make another big mess and never clean it up.
But soon I was able to find my rhythm and get myself back into the groove. My solution was to change my study habits and make sure I understood the context. I would review my notes and write in the margins too. I would write notes or connections I would make with the readings. With my family, I call them every day, and talk to them all the time. I make sure that I connect with either my mother or father to see how their day was. I also try to go home at least once a month so that I can see my cousins and grandparents. As for my roommate, I would communicate with her and tell her how I felt about what she was doing and how it was affecting me mentally. I tried to create a chore system that we could have used. I went back into our roompact contract and told her that we both agreed that we were both going to clean and that it was unfair to me that she wasn’t completing her part of the deal. We tried to fix it, but she ended up leaving UWGB and going back home, but we are still friends and I wish the best for her.
Author: Nerd Cluster Gummy
The Work Never Ends
To me there are many differences to college and high school. High school is designed for you to pass, you can take easy classes and just breeze by, but college is not like that. High school and college have huge differences. One of the biggest differences is the fact that you just jump right into college, when in high school you have that first week of introductions and getting to know everyone. In college the teachers just got over the syllabus and that’s it, they don’t really have to know your name. Its your job to go up and introduce yourself and talk to them outside of class. We don’t play names games or get to know you anymore. High school is forced on you because it’s a law, college isn’t, it’s a choice. You are choosing to go to post- secondary school and continue your education.
The number of hours I have put into studying this whole year is crazy compared to high school. In high school I would only study when I had a test and when I did I would only do it for about 45 minutes top. This semester I am taking 18 credits. I would never imagine that I would be taking 18 credits as a college freshman. I must study a lot because of the amount of course work I have. Every day I study for at least 2-3 hours a day, I have reading to complete, homework, notes, and weekly assignments. I was also able to work about 20 hours a week in high school because I was free mostly every night and I wanted to make some money. I still do work, but I work less than 15 hours because I have to put my schoolwork first and make sure I am keeping up with the class. Since I have a lot of things to complete every week I have learned to balance and learned how to plan out everything.
