College Life

Being independent and able to make your own decision is scary, but it’s also exhilarating and amazing. My whole life I’ve had my parents to lay out my day-to-day life, and now literally everything I do is up to me. I’ve really enjoyed the fact that I get to decide what I do with my free time. There are no more obligations to athletics, volunteering, working, or chores. If I don’t want to do it, I don’t have to. With that being said, when I do choose to be in these activities, they are truly things that I want to do. The second-best thing is that I have utter and complete control over my diet. If I’m not hungry, I don’t have to force down food. If I don’t like what the dining hall has to offer, I can make some instant Raman in my room. The freedom to choose my own schedule and life has really been a dramatic change since high school.

One the other hand, I do miss the structure that home and high school had to offer. Just a few months ago, I didn’t have to make the conscious thought to fit eating, homework, and taking care of myself into my schedule. Everything was just laid out for me. I had a work schedule. I had dinner ready for me when I came home. And I had sports practices. Now I must make the active decisions every day to take care of myself: eating vegetables, going to the gym, completing my homework on time. It is, in a way, a little bit more exhausting; however, that’s what adulting is. College is teaching us how to be the bosses of our own time, and to prepare us for this beautiful and exciting world we are entering into.

          My expectations of college can be summed up into three words: simple, independent, and hard work. I knew that college courses are very laid out and cut and paste. So, the simplicity came in when I knew what I needed to get done and when. The independence kicked in once I moved out of my house and into my dorm. Finally, hard work is something that is bound to happen when taking a college level course. I know this because of the multiple college level courses I took in high school. The hope was I would wake up, go to class, and do homework every day like clockwork. No procrastination or other devastating factors were going to be in my way of having a first great year of college. 

          Quickly after the first few days of college, I knew my dream of having a great year was backfiring as I became very ill. I suffered from a high fever that gave me hot and cold flashes, inflamed tonsils that were infected, and I had no energy leaving me in bed for the rest of the weekend. Also, the week after that my roommate got into a car accident. This caused a panic as she had no car and had to work in order to pay for college. So, I took time out of my day to drive her from school to work before she got a rental. Since everything comes in threes, the third week of college one of the family dogs got sick and passed away. This was devastating for me as he had been around as long as I can remember and I practically grew up with him in our family. I saw none of these things coming and could not plan ahead for it. So, my expectations did not even come close to my reality.

 

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         High school was boring. I didn’t have to try in most of my classes and rarely found myself having to study. Most of the class time, I would just talk with friends or go on my phone. At the time, my teachers didn’t seem to care if a student was listening or not. Although I kept a high GPA throughout high school, there was no sense of urgency to put my phone away and listen in each class. Of course I still participated in labs and occasionally wrote a few notes down, but again, there was no requirement to show full attention.  Since then, I have found college to be different. For example, in most lectures, it is required that I take notes. Although the professors only stress note taking, I find that the pressure of actually paying for each class persuades me into actually listening and taking notes. It also helps that the classes I am taking interest me and follow the career path to become a nurse.

 

       Other than being more focused in college classes, they give me more free time. When looking back at high school, teachers never let students out early. But in college, I seem to get out early from classes daily. Also, I have fewer classes than I did in high school. Back then, I was managing eight classes every day. Compared to now, with only two classes a day, it gives me lots of free time. This free time gives me time to look back at the notes I’ve taken and actually study so that I can do well on exams. I also have more time to work so that I can actually afford paying for college. I really do enjoy this extra free time and it is definitely a pro of transitioning from high school to college. College life really allows me to sit down, enjoy a coffee, and take my time to learn.

Source: https://wavemagazineonline.com