My First College Semester (16A&B)

I have learned my strengths and my weaknesses as a college student so far. I have learned that I am a very self-motivated person who always strives to do the best. It doesn’t matter if it is on the softball field or in the classroom. In high school I use to not be a good student. I use to have bad study habits and not do my work diligently. My first semester of college kicked me into shape. I learned real quickly that college was going to be nothing like high school. I learned how to study in a way that will help me remember the information. I now have all A’s and B’s as my first semester in college and I hope to remain being a good student as I grow older and finish my college years.

My biggest challenges this year have been my stress. I have found out that I need surgery in both my legs because I have compartment syndrome. This made me stressed out because since I was a freshman in high school I have been looking forward to playing college softball. I have worked hard all these years to find out that I need surgery and cannot play college softball my first year as a college student. The doctor has also warned me that I may not even be able to play sports ever again which stresses me out even more. On top of this I found out that I have lupus, anemia, and two tumors in my thyroid that might be cancerous. Finding out having one of these problems is stressful, having all four happen to me at once in my first semester as a college student makes my stress level at an all time high that I never thought I was ever going to reach. On top of homework and studying I also had to go to a doctors appointment every week and have needed to get many different testing done. I am always tired which makes it very difficult to do my homework. It was also very difficult to wake up in the morning and go to class.

To be able to over come this I had to just make the best of it. There was not much that I was able to do. Lupus unfortunately does not have a cure yet and to fix my legs I need surgery during spring break. I just look at the positives and just think about how I am going to overcome this speed bump in my life. I would need to sleep 14 hours a day in order to not fall asleep in class. I would force myself out of bed every morning and would try my best to stay awake and pay attention in class. For my homework and studying I would do small amounts of it through out the week. Between each homework I would need to take a nap so I would be able to do my best on my next assignment that I was next going to perform.

My biggest achievements this year have been living on my own without my parents. My parents are the ones who were always taking me to doctor’s appointments and scheduling them for me. Doing this on my own really made me mature and realize that I am not going to have my parents there to do everything for me anymore. My first semester as a college student not only made me care more about my grades but I also am more mature and need to clean my room on my own and do my laundry on my own.