On my first day of college classes, I was nervous. At a new school with new people and my heart was racing just thinking about all the important things I’d have to do. I felt like a small fish in a huge pond that had millions of fish in it. The first class went smooth enough as people were going around giving their names and smiling. I realized I don’t know these people and that means they don’t know me either. With this thought, I made a list a list of things I had always wanted for myself but could never manage to do in a tiny school where everyone knew me. I titled my list; change can be for the better. This first semester at Cowley has influenced me to live life naturally, to reorganize my priorities when it comes to studying, and to go outside my comfort zone.
Being a student at Cowley has influenced me to live life naturally. This was the first thing on my list of changes. To live a life naturally, I feel it is important to just go with the flow instead of trying to plan every little detail. I’m someone who will try to plan every little detail of her life. If I could, I’d have a set schedule for every detail of my life for the rest of my life, but I’m realizing that’s not how I’m meant to live life. While it’s hard, I’m trying to go with the flow of life and enjoy it. I only plan on concrete things such as, my work schedule, my school schedule, and even family plans. Along with just letting life happen naturally, I have tried to let go of ‘what if’ thinking. I tend to do a homework assignment such as an essay for a class and after I turn it in, or even while I’m still working on it, I think oh what if I didn’t do this or that right. I’ve been catching myself when I start to do this and reassure myself I took all the ...
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...hen I’m doing this. So far I’ve been successful at pushing my comfort zone and even notice I’m more confident in my everyday life now to.
I’m proud of myself for my first semester at Cowley I have started to live life naturally, to reorganize my priorities when it comes to studying, and to go outside my comfort zone. I never thought I’d get enough courage to change so much about myself, looking back on it I’m glad I did. While I’m still working towards perfecting these changes and making them come naturally they have helped me in school as well in my personal life. Epictetus said “Only the educated are free” I agree with that to an extent you have to be willing to accept the change that comes with being educated. I believe education sets you free to an extent but if you aren’t willing to accept or try to handle the changes that come with that are you truly free?
When I first came to college, I did not have a solid idea of what the experience would be like, but I was excited for this new chapter in my life. I enrolled in courses I though I would excel in but a couple of weeks into the quarter, I felt unprepared for the fast-paced courses that I seemed to be struggling in but that my peers seem to of been excelling in. Early on this cause me some hardships suddenly I did not feel that I was as smart or accomplished as they were. As a result of this my grades in my courses suffered early on. As time progressed, I became friends with a group of people who were also in my similar situation, they were first-generation college students, students, this great support network of students allowed me to gain more confidence in my academic ability and with the help of my lab work, I began to see that I could excel in college.
With the first day of any core class there is a slight apprehension to what can be held within the semester ahead. The moment I stepped out of the classroom after the first day, I came to the realization this class was going to change me as a person. Through many readings, discussions, movies and personal opinion papers my values, knowledge, and future actions have both changed and strengthened. Three questions have been answered throughout the semester, Who am I? What do I know? and Based on what I know how should I act? Human behavior has enlightened me with issues that I can personally relate to and the effect has easily been the most beneficial compared to any other core class I have taken.
Plato, Thoreau, and Sartre suggested that human life should be free. They had different points of view about freedom, but combining Plato's freedom in mind, Thoreau's freedom in nature, and Sartre's freedom in subjectivity of individual gives people the clear and perfect image of freedom. Understanding freedom is the first step to find freedom in the real life. So in relevant, college students have freedom to think critically. Students' freedom is able to study whatever they want, and find out their own roads to the bright future. However, how to use correctly freedom is the hard question to students in this real life.
Throughout this course, I have experienced many different forms of personal growth, but I would say the two major areas were open-mindedness and research skills. Before this course, I alway thought my lifestyle was the correct way to live because it seemed to work very well for me. However, after learning more about the Aboriginal way of life, I have become much more open-minded to other lifestyles and cultures. I no longer think of my lifestyle as being correct, but I recognize this lifestyle is fulfilling and best for me, while another culture or way of life can make someone else just as happy and be just as fulfilling for them. Therefore, I’ve grown to be more open minded and
Ch. 9 Writing Prompt: “Only the educated are free.” from Discourses, by Epictetus (55 AD-135 AD), Greek philosopher. This quote focuses on how people with higher education where the ones to advance and succeed. One thing though, is that it doesn’t apply to everyone. I can relate this because when I was young I didn’t know where to go and how to do it, so I was dragged along with my parents. When I kept getting older the more education I got and the more I knew about the world. Since I knew more about everything, the more I could do things my way, giving me more freedom than ever before. Not everyone has this opportunity, some are forced by will. All people should be free regardless of education. Sadly, that is only in some countries.
After my first few months of college, I realized I enjoy being a college student much more than I enjoyed being a high school student. However, the transition between the two extremely diverse worlds, was challenging at first, I found out how to overcome it. Originally, I couldn’t realize how different the two were, but as time went on, I was about to notice the differences. Not everyone is able to be aware of the many similarities and difference. Some differences include: cost, amount of freedom, and reasons why people are there. On the other hand, both high school and college have similar class structure and both require time management. The better prepared a student is to challenged with these many similarities and differences, the more
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” (Keller) College is definitely a challenge, but it is also a very beautiful thing. Many students enter college expecting knowledge and a sense of direction. It may be hard to balance school between work, you’re social life, life at home, personal issues, etc. A few challenges that I know about all too well have to deal with money, transportation, and procrastination. You spend all of high school listening to your teachers and parents preparing you for what is to come in the near future. The truth is that there is only one way of truly learning, from experience.
Attending the brick-and-mortar traditional university, my traditional learning environment fostered any and everything but a setting for the mature. I had just completed a hitch with the military, and I was unstable already from such, and college campus life was no encouragement to change at the time. Knowles as to his six assumptions stating “[a]s a person matures, his or her self-concept moves from that of a dependent personality toward one of a self-directing human being (Mirriam, Caffarella, and Baumgartner 2007, p...
“You will never know what you are doing until and unless you have done it.” ― Santosh Kalwar. (http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/education?page=11) Throughout the 18 years I’ve lived on Earth, I have learned one thing. Life is nothing but trial and error. You can only learn by learning. You can only experience by experiencing. All my life I took something so vital for granted; pushing it away because I was afraid. I allowed myself to be held back by my trials. I let myself become my problems. I never took an open opportunity like this to better myself, until now. “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” ― Sydney J. Harris. (http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/education?page=11) My education is my future; a second chance I thought I’d never get. And I’m never turning back. That is what my education means to me.
To think that my first semester of college will be over this friday makes me realize how fast time flies. The first few weeks of college were tough, tiring and full of anxiety. Being in a new environment, a different state and not knowing one single person was something that I did not prepare myself for. Throughout all of the tears and the frustrations, I had to constantly remind myself that I am at The University of Akron to gain an education and become a successful individual.
I nervously opened the doors to my future, hoping for the best for myself. At first, I believed departing to class would be simple, but when the bell rang for the first time I had no idea what class room goes where and how busy the halls were going to be. Suddenly, the entire world around me scrambled to class, and on occasions bumping each other along the way; it was a widespread panic for most of the freshmen. Fortunately, I found some wonderful teachers to direct me to my rooms that I will spend the next year
It was not too long before I discovered the faults in my erroneous living. I finally realized, and truly not a moment too soon, that if I did not start living for the present, my future would soon become my neglected present. I would have wasted my life doing meaningless things and I would have no experience to share with anyone who may be interested in the uneventful life I had led. After I came to this startling revelation, I grew even more apathetic in my depression. I truly felt that there was nothing I could do to remedy this situation and was at a total loss for solutions. Soon enough, though, I concluded that there was no alternative to hard work to change the current state of affairs in my life. It was then that I truly embarked on the most difficult journey of my life thus far. This being the journey of self-alteration and successfully changing my own behavioral patterns.
Through the last 13 weeks I have learned about whom I am and what makes me who I am. I have made some great friends not only my age but also older and younger than me. I have realized many things about myself that I never would have realized if I wouldn’t have came here. College is a whole new experience that you could never imagine unless you are there. It is nothing like you read or even that you watch on TV. It is completely different and you learn a lot about yourself as a person.
One of the biggest “life changers” I have ever experienced is college. You get to experience a whole new atmosphere, meet tons of new people, and you get to live a new life. Going into college, most of the time, kids are nervous and scared for what their future. I was one of those students. Going into college I was quite nervous and I didn’t know what to expect. Often, I would hear how difficult college is and how much different it is than high school. I was not prepared to constantly be studying or doing homework because I was not used to doing those things in high school. I wasn’t too fond of being away from my home and my family as well, which is another reason I was skeptical about going off to college. From move in day to now, college has been such a pleasant surprise for me and I am loving it. My college writing course, General Studies Writing, or GSW, has also helped me learn quite a bit, but it could also be improved to help students learn even more than before. Overall, my college experience has been a great one and I couldn’t ask for a better start to a new life.
y first semester at APU has gone by rather fast. It seems like orientation was only yesterday, and today we are taking finals. A lot has happened in these few months as I embark on my college career as a freshmen once again. College is a big step up when compared to high school. I am surrounded by adults far more knowledgeable than I. This year has also been full of new things, new classes, new adventures, new challenges and new risks. The college transition was more than slightly overwhelming. There were multiple times where I was completely at a loss for how to move forward. This semester has also been full of triumphs and growth. College is one of the greatest opportunities we have to grow, in our entire life. However, you cannot have growth