College!!

When I began college this past fall I had numerous expectations. I expected independence, clubs and activities, new friendships, and of course lots of academic work. But what I experienced was so far off from my expectations. I learned the importance of time management, on-campus connections and I also learned that money truly does not grow on trees.

                I didn’t think time management was all that important until I began college. I use to believe that as long as I got the work done than it wouldn’t matter how I got it done but I was wrong and that was a real challenge for me. I had to convince myself that multi-tasking is not as effective as single-tasking. Attempting to perform numerous tasks simultaneously only takes away from the overall outcome of each one. But single-tasking it allows for each assignment to receive undivided attention.

 One effective step toward better management of time is the use of a planner. It allows for efficient prioritizing and helps eliminate procrastination. This is why I began using a planner. A planner not only helped me academically but also with my personal life. With a layout of what must be completed and assessed each day including class and meetings, I was able to better plan my entire day including when I would wake up and when I would go to bed. I failed to utilize the library and its resources throughout this semester. I recently learned of the numerous areas available for quiet study and research. I plan on using this new discovery to my advantage to insure academic success in all of my classes next semester and the years that will follow. I was convinced that I could easily complete school work in my dorm room aside from all the distractions occurring around me and I learned the hard way that the best place to do so is in a quiet, work-centric area like the library.

The majority of my time and energy was spent completing English papers. This is another reason why utilizing the library’s resources will be beneficial. Often times they took up more time than they really should have because of my bad habit of procrastination. Papers that would have only taken a couple of hours to write often took up days because I repeatedly found distractions and interruption that kept me from focusing on my work; leaving me to complete them just before they were due.

 College it like a scavenger Hunt you have to work to discover important resources. Everything can scene out of your reach when it only under you noise. The word college means more to me than ever. College is the place where I learn to grow not only as a person but as a student, College It the place where I was the student and as well as the teacher. College teaches you how to locate your own resources. Yes a student can read an entered book on the campus and what it has offering but yet that not half effective on one who go out and discover things for her/himself.  Having a lot of connection is like another survival skill that you need to learn. It does not always seem like it but often time having the ability to communicate with other cliques of people but your own is always a good thing.

 

Aside from all the homework and learning to manage my time, I also learned that a budget is well needed. That one of the top stresses I face with this semester and the semester that will come is money issues. As we develop we start to understand the value of money better every second. Going back to  when we was just five years-old and your parent or anyone who had given you a dollar, in your mind you would think how many candy or sticker can I  buy with it, right. As most college student you now have to think how many days does we have until the next bill come. The Financial Aid Office will be the place you visit the most. Paying for school every month is a struggle for me working and going to school at the same time it haven’t been easy.  Buying books in the beginning of the semester literally put me in financial debt. Although I had access to food from conn hall and the student center with my meal plan. There were still other expenses that came right out of my pockets. A part of being a college student is having fun at the club on a Thursday night. In order to be admitted to the club there usually is a ten dollar entrance fee. That’s not even including drinks (water of course) in the club. Another type of budget that I needed to worry about is the amount of money on my hoot loot (your life card) to print my essays and other papers for class. It cost five cents per page for printing and this semester I spent over ten dollars on paper alone. That’s a whole trip to the club on a Thursday night! Also, including the fact that you need money for paper on you hoot loot, money for laundry is needed as well. The cost is three dollars per load and this semester I did two loads of laundry every two weeks. After realizing that I was going broke I needed to start doing things a differently I decided that I need a job on campus to help pay for some of my expenses. One thing I learn from college is independence.