The Story of a Semester!

The Story of a Semester!

This first semester of my freshman year at Southern Connecticut State University has been a whirlwind of events. I swear I cannot believe it is already going to be December break. I want to go back to the very beginning for you, to tell you about my experiences here and what I have learned about myself and my school work. I would really like to really reflect on my academic time here so far. Lets go on a virtual road trip!

            I think I will start off by talking about the struggles that I have faced this semester so far. My biggest challenge has definitely making time to do my homework instead of doing other more entertaining things. I know that school comes first but there would be times I would find myself slacking or giving into other temptations such as hanging with friends or going out. Everyone knows in college the more you study the better you do so I should have spent extra time on my work. Often, I would find myself saying “Oh its not due for another two days so I can go out tonight”. However this would bite me in the ass later because I would have to stress to get it done the next day.

Another challenge I faced was staying organized. This is always hard because there are assignments that are continuous that you always need to remember to do (blogging) while at the same time you are getting new assignments every day. Sometimes it feels like its never ending, the second one thing is assigned and you go to do it, three more things pop up. So making sure I kept on top of all the work heading my way without accidentely forgetting something here or there was hard to do at times.

Around the middle of the semester I realized that I was slipping into this problem a little more than usual and decided to turn things around. I started writing out every assignment in my notepad and plan for weeks ahead. Every week I would write the things I already knew were due and then add the day to day assignments as they came. Yet there were always times where I would still get lazy or frustrated and give up on something. It is also very easy to make the excuse “I am so tired, I will get up early tomorrow and do it before class.” But let me tell you, this never works. For me at least, I cannot get out of bed early to do homework, it never has worked and I do not believe it will.

Despite this, I would also like to reflect on the good that I have done. I am very proud to say that I have been getting A’s on test and projects. I have overall become much better at staying organized, writing everything down and sucking it up and getting what needs to be done, done. I also have been known to get ahead, whether it reading or studying for the chapter in Psychology. I think my biggest achievement over all though was not giving up, it was always easy for me in High School to become unmotivated. This year although I would mess up from time to time I really stayed focused and pushed through my desire to say F*$& this.

Speaking of achievement, this semester I picked up some good habits; one is asking for help. I always used to hate to go for extra help because I did not want to look stupid. This year I began going to Math extra help and writing conferences. I asked people around me for assistance as well. My last movie I had to make I asked a CC named Jason to help me because he was very good at making videos and technological stuff and it ended up paying off. Now I don’t make this too much of a habit because I always do whatever I can do first and only when I absolutely need help will I ask.

This has helped me with my goal that I set for myself this semester. My goal was to do the best that I could do. Of course there is always something extra that I could have put into it but overall I am somewhat satisfied. So I did fall somewhat short because if I did as good as I possibly could I would always he doing work for hours on end. Which to me is a little unrealistic but I did put a lot of effort and work into my classes. I also balanced my social and work life relatively well so for that I am happy as well.

From here I simply want to continue to do well and not let the workload stress me out. To take it how it is and work my butt off. I need to say no sometimes and buckle down. Sometimes I really let the little things distract me, even if they are not at all very exciting. The most important thing is to remember to keep my mind on education and always put that first. I am not paying all this money to goof off. Improvement is always possible as long as I work towards it. My new goal is to keep this mentality up and step up my game even higher for the next semester!

Congratulations to everyone who finished their first semester in College!

Keep up the good work !