How I Grew As A Person And About My College Experience

These past couple of months have been a whole new experience for me. This was the first time in my life I lived somewhere away from home. I was nervous at first because I knew I wouldn’t have my mom to rely on all the time whenever I ran into a problem. On move in day I was anxious, I couldn’t wait to meet my new roommates but at the same time I was worried I wouldn’t get along with them considering how we all didn’t know each other. After a couple months of us living together we’ve grown to know each other so well, it was as if we’ve known each other since high school.

We didn’t really know much people on campus so most the time when we went to events around campus it was just us 3. People around our hall even called us brothers because of how close we all were. Even though I made two close friends it wasn’t the same as the group of friends I had back at home but in life you’ll be put in uncomfortable situations with new people you’ve never met so I knew I would have to adjust.

Growing up I’ve always had trouble making friends because I’ve always been a shy person growing up. Moving Into 6th grade I came out my shell a little and became a little more social, because of it I made some loyal friends and then in high school I expanded that group of friends because my friends made more friends and they’ve always been my go to. Moving into college I had to start over since all my friends went off to different schools. So far this semester I haven’t made as much friends as id like, but the bonds I did make were good ones. Besides my roommates I met some nice people who live in my hall that I talk to on the regular, whenever I need something they’ll come help me and I’ve been really appreciative of them. It’s crazy for me to think I wouldn’t have met these people if I chose to commute between school and home. Choosing to dorm was a great choice for me and because of it I’ve made so many great relations.

Getting used to how the class schedules were and the amount of free time I had was tough. I was too used to how back in high school you’d have to wake up at a set time and get to school at a specific time every day, your day was pretty much planned for you but in college its completely different your schedule changes up every day and in a given day you only have a couple classes at most. The way things are set up here it was almost overwhelming how much free time I’d have. The first couple of weeks after I’d finish class and do my homework I’d spend the rest of my day doing nothing, this was a huge mistake I made the first couple of weeks, if I could go back in time I definitely wouldn’t have procrastinated as much.

I still had my high school mindset where I would barely study for classes and get away with putting in minimal effort. That sort of toxic mindset always held me back in school because I knew if I’d put in a little effort I could pass my classes with a decent grade. This past semester really opened my eyes and taught me minimal effort is nowhere near enough to make it through in life. This was a very important lesson for me and it’s good that I learned it early on instead of later in the semester or else I could have been in a really bad situation right now. Also, it helped me develop my time management skills, now I know how to balance out my day, so I get enough studying and school work in while also having a social life like hanging out with friends and going to events.

Coming into college I had the mindset that I would have piles of work every day that would take me hours to complete but the amount of work I got my first semester was not what I expected. I had about one or two assignments a week in each of my classes that would at most take a couple hours to complete, the only thing is that the difficulty of the work was what I expected from college courses. The quantity of work wasn’t anything too out of hand, but the difficulty was challenging but defiantly doable, workload like this is defiantly going to help prepare me for the next upcoming semester.

A major issue I came across that I had to adjust to was how if I missed a class in college next time I had that class I would be lost on what’s going on. This is mostly due to the fact that classes meet once or twice a week, this makes it even more important to show up to class because you don’t want to be lost and miss out on any notes. In my case since other than 3 of my classes I didn’t know anyone in my other two classes so if I were to miss a class I couldn’t get notes if the teacher didn’t post them online so it made it my number one priority to show up to those classes, so I wouldn’t be behind.

These past couple of months were filled with new experiences and helped me grow as a person. Before coming to Salem state, I thought college was going to be a scary place and that I’d be stressing out every night but since I’ve been here I was proved wrong. Yeah college isn’t a cakewalk but if you have good time managing skills and learn to balance everything then you can make the most of college and really enjoy the social and academic aspects of it. I wouldn’t want to change anything about my college experience, as a whole it defiantly helped me mature as a person and in the long run help me prepare for the real world.