Next Book-list Item: How to Life for Dummies
My first semester of college started as a clueless adventure. Anxiety and excitement both dominated my anticipated first time really being away from home. I thought I was ready, as most newly graduated "adults" do, to face college and the "real world" head-on. And as most newly graduated "adults" do, I soon discovered that I was in no way ready for the various headaches and responsibilities that come with the long-anticipated dive into adulthood.
Notably, I did much better in the end than I had anticipated at the beginning of the year. College felt so freeing in comparison to the hours upon hours of sitting (or slumping in my case) in a desk in high school. Classes for 2 or 3 hours a day was like ambrosia coated manna. However, knowing how to balance a social life and school work was not my forte. Thus, like the studious person that I was, I became a total recluse surrounded by the love that only sentence diagramming and essay writing can give! There were acquaintances and friends who would try to encourage me to spend time outside of my dorm room, but their efforts were not noticed by me at the time.
After about a year away from school some changes had happened in my life that influenced my decision to transfer to another university. For that semester there was a complete switch. Instead of being hopelessly socially clueless, I was clueless about how to handle life in general. The new environment of my university was more uplifting for my spirits which caused much rejoicing in the land. My roommates and I would go to different events and do a lot of things together, and I spent a lot of time with my boyfriend/fiance and his roommates. However, due to some emotional difficulties and trying to plan a wedding, my ability to handle classwork went down the drain. I made it out of the semester by the skin of my teeth, but it didn't matter much to me with my wedding less than a month away.
Now, I'm back at school with my husband. Schoolwork isn't an issue, and spending time with others is a frequent occurrence; however, as is cliched and can be expected, I am still as clueless as ever. What's difficult about college is that it's not quite the "real world". There are still responsibilities to worry about, but they seem distant. Financial worries can be obscured by thousands of dollars in scholarships or student loan debt, which can be mostly ignored for the time being. Buying a house doesn't seem to be a likely reality in the near-future as I sit on the couch in our postage stamp studio apartment. No, life is definitely not figured out, and I likely will never feel like I have life figured out.
For right now, though, it is nice to have comfort in knowing that I'm still not quite expected to have life figured out.
Notably, I did much better in the end than I had anticipated at the beginning of the year. College felt so freeing in comparison to the hours upon hours of sitting (or slumping in my case) in a desk in high school. Classes for 2 or 3 hours a day was like ambrosia coated manna. However, knowing how to balance a social life and school work was not my forte. Thus, like the studious person that I was, I became a total recluse surrounded by the love that only sentence diagramming and essay writing can give! There were acquaintances and friends who would try to encourage me to spend time outside of my dorm room, but their efforts were not noticed by me at the time.
After about a year away from school some changes had happened in my life that influenced my decision to transfer to another university. For that semester there was a complete switch. Instead of being hopelessly socially clueless, I was clueless about how to handle life in general. The new environment of my university was more uplifting for my spirits which caused much rejoicing in the land. My roommates and I would go to different events and do a lot of things together, and I spent a lot of time with my boyfriend/fiance and his roommates. However, due to some emotional difficulties and trying to plan a wedding, my ability to handle classwork went down the drain. I made it out of the semester by the skin of my teeth, but it didn't matter much to me with my wedding less than a month away.
Now, I'm back at school with my husband. Schoolwork isn't an issue, and spending time with others is a frequent occurrence; however, as is cliched and can be expected, I am still as clueless as ever. What's difficult about college is that it's not quite the "real world". There are still responsibilities to worry about, but they seem distant. Financial worries can be obscured by thousands of dollars in scholarships or student loan debt, which can be mostly ignored for the time being. Buying a house doesn't seem to be a likely reality in the near-future as I sit on the couch in our postage stamp studio apartment. No, life is definitely not figured out, and I likely will never feel like I have life figured out.
For right now, though, it is nice to have comfort in knowing that I'm still not quite expected to have life figured out.
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