I remember it like yesterday, the excitement I had the Friday night before move-in day at VCU. The day I would finally become an adult. I would be living on my own and could do virtually whatever I wanted since my parents were 100+ miles away.
The ride to Richmond felt long, even though it was only a couple hours. I felt excited and nervous all at the same time. Moving in was stressful, considering I had brought about a million things that I didn’t need and organization under pressure is not my strong suite. After unpacking, I said goodbye to my parents. I knew I wasn’t going to miss them too much because they would probably be sending me selfies every week.
I remember the first time I cried. It was a few days before classes started. It was the first time I had been alone in my dorm for more than 20 minutes. I started to think about my classes, unsure if I would be able to handle them all, questioning if I was even ready for college. I was scared of the unknown. I called my mom and cried, but she told me I could do it, and to believe in myself, but I didn’t know if I believed in myself or not because I didn’t know what to expect in this unknown territory.
Going to my first class was the most nervous I had been in a while. I always think I’m going to have an Elle Woods “Legally Blonde” moment where I show up for class and get pop-quizzed on a prior assignment that I did not do. Luckily, that didn’t happen. My professor started by class by simply saying “Sup.” Not even a “what’s up,” just “sup.” After that, my nerves eased going into my next first classes.
After the first few weeks, I finally found my niche. I had a schedule down and didn’t need to pull up Google Maps any more to navigate to my classes. My biggest issue ended up being time management. Like I said in my article 11 Realizations Every Freshman Has the First Month of College, the work assigned by professors isn’t impossible. It’s very possible, but only if you put in the time and effort (something I wasn’t accustomed to doing). Alas, by the end of the semester I have realized the time I must put into my work to get the results I desire.
Besides time management, the biggest issue I had was having a roommate. Living with another person in tight quarters is hard, especially when you have different sleep schedules. But like Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, we must all adapt, and adapt I did (can you tell I’m a nursing major?). Life is not always going to be a smooth road. There are going to be some roadblocks, some U-turns and some detours to get to where you want to be, but, if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.