My College Experience

When I first moved here, I only had a brief idea about how high school and college work. They were completely different systems than I was used to...it was all Greek to me. I'd never had a locker, the same classes every day or the ability to drive to school in my own car and have a parking space. After looking into college and what I wanted to major in, I didn't even know what a credit hour was. I really had no clue.

I spent the first several months in the US talking to people at the school's financial aid office, which was a complete nightmare. Since my parents were overseas and not supporting me financially, I had to apply for financial aid in order to pay for my books and tuition. Because of all of these "special circumstances", I had to have someone at the Financial Aid office actually fill out my FAFSA (The Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for me, in order to get any financial aid in the first place, since none of my given information was being accepted. I believe the FAFSA didn't even give me the option to list a foreign country as a place I'd previously lived.

I spent the longest time doing "research" and broadening my knowledge about college and which grants and scholarships I'd be eligible for. 

I have now started my third semester in college, and am in the DMAD (Digital Media Arts and Design) program. Although the classes are VERY demanding and time consuming, I absolutely love the program - the classes have taught me so much and our main instructor is just awesome. This is just a general idea of what a weekday in my life as a college student looks like:

8:45 AM Alarm goes off, usually playing Nirvana or Sublime. I press the snooze button.

8:54 AM Alarm reminds me again to get up. I press the snooze button.

9:03 AM "I'll just press snooze one more time..." Z...z...z...

9:12 AM "I'll get up in fifteen seconds. one...two...three...four...five....six...seven...eight...nine...ten...eleven...twelve...thirteen...fourteen...fifteen...fifteen...fifteen...fifteen..."

9:15 - 9:40 AM I roll out of bed and creep to the bathroom, get dressed and ready for the day. I try to force down a banana and finish packing up my backpack.

9:40 - 9:45 AM "WHERE are my F***ING KEYS?!"

9:45 - 9:55 AM I drive to school and chat with Mike...usually about the drivers who have apparently gotten their license out of a gumball machine at the mall. 

10:00 - 4:20 AM/PM Sitting in class, (minus the lunch break in between the first and second class, which I spend at home with Mike watching South Park) usually wishing I hadn't put in contacts, since I would spend the majority of the day staring at a computer screen. Luckily, most all of the time, the classes I take require less verbal and more physical participation, which means I can listen while drifting off into my world of imagination and creativity and not have to worry about getting in trouble for it. I remember the times when doodling or drawing in class as an absolute no. Now, it is encouraged, as long as it is along the lines of what is being taught and discussed. 

On Mondays and Wednesdays I only have one two hour class from 10 AM to noon, so afterwards I use that time to do some homework or skype with friends or family overseas when I can. 

4:30 - 6:30 PM "Free Time". This doesn't mean I can do whatever the hell I want. It means I can choose freely in what order I want to do what. It can be anything from homework (which it most always is) to running errands. On occasion, I will spend time with a friend, but that is fairly rare during the semester. Unless on vacation, in most all cases this time is spent doing homework, since we have so much of it. When I have several projects at the same time, I usually have just enough time to use the bathroom in between. Sleeping is kept to a minimum and eating meals usually takes place while I'm working. There are some days that I spend around 6 hours or more on homework, because I will not allow myself to do "the bare minimum." If I am not happy with a project, I won't stop working until I am certain I will get an A.

6:30 - 7:30 PM Either go out to grab dinner with Mike and his family or eat dinner at the house. Sometimes even eat dinner while I'm working, as I mentioned before.

7:30 - ??? PM/AM I take this time to continue my homework or other side projects. As you can tell, I am not at ALL a morning person, so this time of day is actually when I work best. My mind is most active and I like the peace and quiet at night. If I happen to have finished everything I need to get done for the day, Mike and I watch a movie together or I curl up and read a book before bedtime.

On Weekends, often times our instructors give us big assignments, so I spend the time I have all day to work on a project in one sitting. When I am really on a roll, I have a hard time quitting what I am doing. I just want to keep working until I'm done. So if I need to sit down for 8 or more hours at a time, the weekend is really good for that. When I can, I do like to get out a little bit and see some friends or go to Mike's band practice with him. I also like to spend my weekends getting caught up on the sleep I lost in the past week from being up until all hours of the night or pulling all-nighters doing homework.

I've found that time in college can be a great mixture of things:

It can be a fresh start: Generally, you won't know anyone at all when going to college, so you will have a completely clean slate. Nobody will know that you're the one who passed out in gym class or that you were once a band geek with braces. It will be an opportunity to meet new people and start from scratch. You will also be able to find new groups of people, who share your interests and goals; people you can really relate to and who can also really relate to you.  

It can be a great and important experience: You will finally be able to figure out which direction you want to go and who you really are. You will be able to express yourself in many ways you weren't able to before. If you are staying in a dorm at a four year college, you will often times encounter things you never have before, since you've (in most cases) been dependent on other people all your life, so you will learn what amount of detergent you need for a load of laundry, not to put aluminum foil in the microwave and why your parents were so anal about you not staying up until all hours of the night. 

It can be a challenge: With all this new freedom, you are now responsible to discipline yourself. You need to know for yourself if it's okay to stay up until 3 AM or if you can afford to go to that big party instead of putting off studying or homework. It's a time of trial and error. Some people are better prepared from previous experiences and some people are just learning.

From my experience: College is not a big party. It is not like it is in those cheesy American teen movies about parties, relationships, sororities and fraternities. College is some serious business. That of course doesn't mean that you can't have fun or go to a party once in a while. But if you came to college to Party, good luck finding a job. In all seriousness. If you really want a degree and good grades and perhaps even to be on honor roll, you are going to be sitting at your desk on your butt studying and doing homework the majority of your time spent in college. And trust me, it pays off and it feels really good to see your high GPA after all that hard work.

College has also really helped me learn that when I have my mind set to something, I am capable of much more than I was aware of. I am a much happier person than I was before I started college, because I have found something I am really good at. Taking classes that I enjoy and have talent in really give me hope and let me shine in a way that I wasn't able to while taking classes I hated back in "high school". 

I am sure that my experiences are much different from yours. This is only my perspective. How is/was your college experience? What did you love, what did you hate? If you aren't in college anymore, is there anything you miss or don't miss so much? What was/were the most important lessons your learned while in college? Feel free to comment. :)