4 Things I Learned My Freshman Year of College

Just like that, my first year at college ended,  and now I am working full-time at my college library. I have quite a bit of time to think about things and read books while working the desk (the college is obviously not very busy during the summer months), so I decided to do a post about some things I found important and learned my first year of my college career.

1. Attend all your classes

This past year, the only time I skipped a class was to make it to work on a day the college was following a 2-hour delay schedule. Believe me, I thought about skipping class so many times. Having 8 Am's everyday is extremely hard. To keep myself in the right mindset, I reminded myself of how I was paying to get my college education, which meant I was not using what I bought if I were to skip class. So go to class! Your professor appreciates it, you are making good use of your money, and it will positively impact your participation grade.

2. A perfect match is not always best

While finding people with similar interests is a great way to make friends, don't limit yourself to people who share your exact interests. Sometimes being friends with people who share slightly different mindsets or have different views on things can be an excellent growing experience, and you may form a bond with those kinds of people when you each respect the others opinions. For example, I made a few friends whose theology beliefs at times vastly different from mine. This has helped me to be more open-minded as well as become strong in what I personally believe.

3. There will be drama


When a bunch of people around the same age live together in close quarters, there will be drama. No one in the world agrees on everything, and therefore conflict is due to arise when you spend all your time 24/7 with the same people. Many will tell you that if you make the right friends, you can avoid drama. The truth is, you can't. Instead, learn that it will come at some point, and be sure to be mentally prepared when it does. Keeping an open, gracious mind, is one of the most important things to remember when troublesome situations arise, and it is a skill that I wish that I had improved more upon before starting my college career.

4.  Sleep is more important than studying


I know, crazy concept. But the truth, nonetheless. Many studies have proven that your brain functions much better when your body gets an adequate amount of sleep. Cramming is not the way to go, although the temptation to pull an all-nighter before a big exam may be strong. Instead of cramming late at night, get a good night's sleep. You will do better on your exam for it.

Alright! These are some things that I believe are very important to know in order to succeed at college. I hope that this helps any future college attendees or serves as a good reminder for current students.
 

Book 2/50 Thriving At College

Ok, so I made this goal (that I thought) was realistic to read 50 books this year. So far I've read two. We shall see how this goes.

Today I finished perhaps one of the most helpful books I have ever read, Thriving At College. Written by Alex Chediak, this book is written to help the Christian college student navigate the academic life. It is divided into "Mistakes" as chapters and deals with the subjects of making your faith your own, keeping an organized lifestyle, and how to make the most of your academic career. I'd recommend this book to anyone - and I wish I had read it before I completed my freshman year.

Thriving At College focuses a lot on how to have a balanced life, which is something I tend to have a hard time doing. Besides that, this book also gives the reader tips on studying. It had never occurred to me until reading this book that I should be studying consistently year-round, not just when I have an exam. This is something I plan to change next year, and I am excited to see how it will change how I perform in my classes. Chediak also touches quite a few important topics of relationships, and how the way you choose friends is very detrimental to your character. You become who you hang out with, he says, and I think that is an excellent point.

This book changed how I viewed my academic career and helped me realize how important it is to set a decent schedule for myself and to budget my time wisely. I definitely suggest that every freshman read this book before starting college, or while attending, it can greatly benefit your life.

Say Geronimo

I am quite nearly 1/4 of the way through college. I realized this while talking to a friend yesterday about when we were leaving campus (nor not leaving campus in my case) after our final exams. Yes, finals week is upon me and the last two weeks have been nothing but stress and drama. Upon coming to college, I assumed that the general population would be significantly more mature than my youth group friends but upon approaching spring semester, I soon realized that is not true. Evidently my expectations for my peers were way too high.

Presumptuous or not of me, I have been a little surprised at the reaction of people older than myself to relationship problems and have been shocked at the lack of discretion some people seem to have. Currently, I am going through a little bit of heartbreak due to a situation with a guy, and apparently a friend has spread the word like wildfire, with intentions still unknown. This surprised me because I am not used to having to explain that something like a relationship problem is best left quiet. I have always assumed that this is common curtesy. How wrong I was, and it has led to a number of rant sessions and tears on my part as a result.

After going through a period of struggling with going back to secluding myself from my friends because of the guy situation, I soon realized that I was letting everyone control me. I am my own person, I am not defined by my quietness or my heartbreak. Letting people speak for me is ending this year. Basically, I'm done. I'm jumping off the high end of my college career and being me for once in my life. I realized that I am free to have the friends I want, dress the way I want, and I am free to like whomever I want. So say "Geronimo", because I have passed the point of essentially, caring. (The song by Sheppard has been my anthem this week). I'm done caring about what others think, God has called me to be myself.