Personal Narrative: What I Learned While Attending College

Summer Slininger These past couple weeks have been the most nerve-wrecking and exciting weeks of my life. Coming to college is a lot like being thrown into a jungle. All of the resources you need to survive are there, but most of the time you have to find them on your own. Every resource I could possibly need is here for me at the University of Iowa, but I have to go out on my own to find them and utilize them. Throughout my first few weeks of college, I have found there to be three main differences: privacy, work ethic, and time management. When it comes to privacy, I have always been able to be alone when I wanted to. Until I came here. Now if I’m in my room, my roommate is usually there too. If I’m just trying to find a place to sit at
I know it is extremely cliché, but high school was a breeze for me. I barely studied, I could do all of my homework the night before it was due and still receiving 100% and it was just plain easy. College is a completely different scenario. When I was told that I should be spending 2 hours outside of class for every hour in class, I immediately felt defeated. How on earth am I supposed to spend that much time outside of class doing homework, studying, AND still have a social life and join student organizations?? I have found that the answer is balance and the ability to tell people no. When my roommate wants to just watch Netflix or skip out on our homework, I say no because I know that I want to get the grades that are going to impress. It is definitely not easy to give up on social interaction, and that is why I also try to set apart some time when I dedicate my time to strictly having fun. For example, this weekend is the first football game and I have set aside some of Saturday to enjoy the game, but not all of Saturday. I know that I also need to set aside some time for when I can complete some homework or even begin studying for the upcoming tests. It’s all about