I remember that first day of
college as a student at Southern. I can’t even to being to express how nervous
I was. College is where everything starts to become real, and where you life
starts falling in place. What if I’m the only one who doesn’t have a clue? What
if I never find myself? Those were the questions that consumed my mind
constantly, making me feel so uneasy.
My
first semester at college helped that though. I started my first week or so off
with the mindset that I would hate it. I was never a school person at all. I
never put really any effort into my work because I had close to zero interest
in it. But I realized that if I wanted to get somewhere in life, then I needed
to open up my mind about school. That was my first goal for the semester; to be
more open minded. Most people’s goals are to get good grades. Not me, though. I
just wanted to see a change in myself as a student. I’m proud to say that I
came very far with working towards that goal. Even though I still have no plan
for the future, no desired major, I still had positive thoughts about them for
once. I realized that I shouldn’t get down on myself, because it’s okay to be
confused and unsure about what to do. Also, I tried my best no matter what
situation it was. I wanted to prove to myself that I can do it. That I can be
positive with my school situation. That I can put a lot of effort into work and
be happy with the result for once. I was so used to being compared grade wise
with my twin sister. She always had better grades than I did. This was my
chance away from her, my own school, my own grades to worry about. I did prove
all of these to myself, which is such a nice feeling.
The first thing I learned about college was that it is nothing like high school. At all. I'm not a fan of change. So getting past the initial struggle was hard, but I can say that I adapted quickly.
Just
like any college student, there are always some roadblocks getting in the way
of you progress. I struggled with time
management in my beginning stage at school. I’m a night owl. I stay up until
three in the morning every night. That does not mean that’s the best time to do
work, though. At first I thought it was. I would save all my work until that
moment, and I would be completely over tired and way too stressed to finish
everything. I soon realized that I won’t show my full potential this way. So, I
began to practice better time management skills. I would set reminders on my
phone at a certain hour of the day to get something done, and I would. I can
easily say that my biggest challenge turned into my biggest success. I took
that challenge, that road block in my way, and worked on it to better myself
and my work. 
Along
with all of this, I am also very proud of my grades and my performance in general.
I was able to pull off midterm averages of B’s with a couple of exceptions. That
made me so happy. I got though my first semester of college on a good note. But,
the actual grade I received isn’t what’s most important. What is important is
what I’ve learned. I’ve learned so much information that will be useful to me throughout
my years at Southern. I can always look back on it with a positive outlook. 
If I
didn’t open my mind, I probably would not be writing this blog post right now.
Being so open minded about school is new to me, and I feel like this opened my
eyes that I can be this way about anything else in my life. These blog posts
helped me keep track of who I am, making me realize something new with every one
of them. Next semester, I’m going to continue to try to find my way, and keep
staying positive. I’m going to keep my grades up, and won’t let myself go
downhill. I’m excited to see what the future brings me. 
