We all have a habit of imagining our futures —when we are kids, we imagine high school; when we are in high school we imagine our college lives; as college students we imagine our adult lives. Our imaginations lead us to create really high expectations, and all we can do is hope our ideas work out the way plan. Being completely honest, there are expectations that I had for college as a whole, and more specifically for Mercer. Many of them have been met, but others, not so much.
I always imagined that I would be very productive in college. I thought I’d be better academically and socially. I didn’t do so well in high school, so I thought college would be my clean slate. I thought, by this point, I would be really involved on campus, especially since there are so many opportunities here. With so many options, it can be easy to get overwhelmed and to end up in only one organization or in way too many organizations. I’m sure many other people dealt with this issue as well. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it is important to remember your goals, and stick with organizations that will help you reach them.
I also expected more food options to be on a college campus. I don’t mind eating at the caf, but I do overindulge in the UC a bit. Also, in the beginning of the year, I ate in the Mercer Village more than I do now. However, I expected a place to be open later that allowed me usage of my unlimited meal plan. I never thought that the caf would close as early as it does, as well as some of the UC restaurants, with Subway being the only on-campus establishment open past ten. I get hungry late at night while I’m studying and doing homework, and I had no idea that I would become the stereotypical college student, living off of Ramen noodles, but I am.
This brings up another thing I did not expect: all of the late nights spent doing homework. An early night for me means two or three a.m. It’s sad really. I knew college came with a greater amount of homework than high school (and that’s saying a whole lot. I pulled many late nights in high school), but I did not expect that I would spend this much time studying and doing homework. College has forced me to manage my time better, which I did expect. While I still procrastinate (but then again, who doesn’t?), I have learned to factor that time into my study time, which proved to be efficient. I have also spent a good amount of time in the library, something upperclassmen warned about, but I did not think it would apply to me. I actually like studying in the library. It is actually really important to find a place that you study well, and I have done that!
One of my main expectations coming into college was that it would be difficult to make friends. But at a small school like Mercer I haven’t found this to be an issue. There are so many groups to join, and so man activities to participate in, that I don’t think you’ll be friendless unless you really want to be. This is comforting, because college is the first time many of us have been away from our family and friends for this long, so finding new people to spend time with is a welcome change!
We try to plan our lives, make them live up to our expectations, but the unexpected changes to the plan are what make life interesting. The things that don’t necessarily meet our expectations are the things that could change our lives.