First Semester Survival Guide

Everyone’s first semester at college is different. Sometimes you hear the horror stories; terrible roommates, early classes, and scary professors! But other times you hear about all the fun people have; going out and meeting new people, living on their own, and making friendships that could last a lifetime. For me my first semester at college has had its ups and downs but overall I have enjoyed my time at Southern.

I still can remember my first day. Driving around like a maniac trying to find a parking space all while having nervous butterfly’s in my stomach. What were my professors going to be like?? Who will be in my classes?? And now only 3 short months later I’m already done. I have changed a lot these last 3 months and learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned that:

1.) Hard work really pays off.

2.) You have to keep yourself organized.

3.) You need to move outside of your comfort zone.

You follow these 3 rules and BAM you are setting yourself up for success.

In college you need to realize when is a good time to go out and when is a good time to stay in. Sometimes I hear stories of students going out and forgetting about their test the next day, next thing they know they are failing that class. You need to constantly be working hard in all of your classes. I knew this going into my first semester. You need to have the correct mindset. My mindset was, and still is, “Get good grades or loose your spot in the nursing program.” I know in about a year and a half I will be fighting against hundreds of other students for a spot in Southern’s Nursing Program. If you enter College with the mindset that you want to succeed, you will, as long as you work for it.

Organization is key. In college you will not have a teacher who is going to remind you when something is due. You also do not have parents to remind you. This means it could be very easy for you to slack off or just to forget when something is due. This could happen to any of us. One way to try to prevent this would be to stay organized. For my first semester in college I have three different calendars all filled out with important due dates. This way everywhere I look I have a reminder. I also write out daily and weekly to do lists, and stick to them as well as I can. You need come up with your own way to stay organized; it will pay off in the end! I promise!!

In college you are free to do what you want. You want to be an active participant in your life, not just let it fly by. When you start college you think, “These are going to be the longest four, maybe even five years of my life.” But just think about it this way one semester is already over and done with. Only seven more left. Seven may sound like a lot but it’s not. What have you done this semester that has pushed your comfort zone?? If you cannot think of at least 3 different things you just let your first semester of college fly past you. You cannot get it back now. But do not worry you have seven more semesters left, DO NOT WASTE THEM!!

Good luck with your first semester of college! Make sure you remember to have fun!!

Greatest Success; Greatest Failure

Week 13 Blog 2

I have two greatest successes and one greatest failure. My two greatest successes were in my Biology class and in my INQ class. In my INQ class my greatest success would be the second video project that we did. I aced this video project and I deserved it. I put a lot of thought and effort into it. I thought that the topic I choose, southerns study abroad program, was very creative and the music and pictures I put in it really made it good. I am very proud of this project I think that its the best work I have done in all of my classes.

My second success is in my Biology Class. My Micro Biology class is the most difficult class that I've had. This teacher expects you to do a lot of learning on your own and also there is a huge work load that is connected with this class. In this class on my second lab exam I aced it. This was a huge success for me. I was beginning to feel very discouraged in that class. I had already failed the lab exam before that. But that grade really raised my spirits. I was very proud of myself afterwards.

From these two successes I have learned that the key to success is planning out these projects and studying for these exams we have. I need to be prepared in order to do well. I think that everyone should try to prepare themselves for their classes.

My greatest failure is also in my Micro Biology class. This class is very difficult. And it sometimes discourages me. At the beginning of the semester I was very discouraged. I had already failed many quizzes and a test. I thought I was going to have to drop this class and take it again. But then I pushed through these failures and they made me do even better. I studied even more and aced the next exam I took. This shows that you need to learn from your mistakes. Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself these failures pushed me to do better.

You can learn a lot from both failures and successes in college. You just need to have the right mindset to deal with both of them.

My Final Blog Post Preview

Week 13 Blog 1

For my final blog post for this class I want to make it really creative. Creativity is something that I have always really struggled with. This class has taught me how to be conscious of my creativity and how to try to improve it. I think that over the course of this semester I have become more creative. This is something that I am really proud of. I hope that my creativity continues to improve throughout my college career and also throughout my life.

So in order to make this final post creative I have been brain storming some ideas. At first I was not too sure which way to go. I had lots of really interesting and fun ideas to work with. So finally I chose to make this final blog post into a story. I want to take my first semester and condense it into a story with how I have felt and all the things I have accomplished.

I have already began working on this project. I started with answering the 10 questions that you gave us to think about. This way as I am writing this final post I can refer back to these answers if I get stuck while I am writing. I think that this is a good idea for everyone to begin this project. This way everyone has something to look at while they are writing. I think that it will make this project easier by being prepared to do this work.

My goals for this final post is 1) to get a good grade of course, and 2) to make it very creative and interesting because that is something we have been working on all semester.

Day Of Peace

Campus Safari

This week for my campus safari I went to the Day of Peace with Natalie. We went to go see Gabby perform her dance. Gabby dances with her group SPDC. I liked how the day of peace had a really welcoming vibe to it. Gabby’s dance was so good. They did a lyrical dance. The day of peace went from 3 PM till 10 PM. Natalie and I only stayed to see Gabby dance though. It was really nice to be able to see how the Day of Peace works and also to support a friend. 

#CommuterProbs

Week 12 Blog 2

#CommuterProbs

This is my final video for this class and I have to say I'm proud of it. I tried to make it very informative and also have some funny parts to it. I also tried to have a lot of different aspects to the video so that it keeps it interesting. I have many different text boxes, many pictures, and also two different video clips. I liked that I was able to connect this problem to my own life and also it connects to many other Southern Students. I like how all my problems have one common solution. It makes it easy to follow. I hope you all enjoy this video!!

The Fitness Center

Campus Safari: The Fitness Center

Last week before break I took a trip to the Fitness Center. I already have a gym membership at the gym in my town, thats why I did not look into the Fitness Center sooner. But for next semester I am going to have a break in my day so I could go to the gym if I wanted to. I was impressed. The staff are nice and very helpful, I was able to ask them lots of questions. They have so many fitness classes to go to. I love doing zumba and they have so many classes that I could attend. Next semester I think I will get a membership at the Fitness Center. It is a place you can meet up with friends so it has a social aspect to it also. Everyone should go check it out!!!

What Have I Learned About Creativity

Week 12 Blog 1

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp teaches a lot about creativity and how to become more creative. It gives you many exercises to try out on your own. Everyone should take the time to try out at least some of these exercises. This book explains all the little details about creativity. It explains where you should start, how to deal with failure, how to not be fearful of your creativity, and so many more.

We can gain a lot from Twyla Tharp's book. Twyla Tharp is a creative person. People could look at her and be amazed by what she creates and some can be intimidated by it. She was not born this way. Yes she could have been born with some talent but that is not enough to make her who she is today. She believed in herself, she practiced, and I think most importantly, she failed. But she did not give up when she failed, she learned from her failure. That is what makes her different from so many other people in this world.

People do not like to admit when they have failed. Or when they do fail they try to push it away and hid it so people do not see. Another thing people do is when they practice they work on things they already are good at, not what needs improving. From this book we can learn not to do these things. We can try to learn to admit when we are wrong and learn from our mistakes.

Creativity to me, after reading this book, symbolizes something that is always a work in progress to be maintained. It is something that needs to be embraced at a young age and not destroyed. Creativity is showing the world who you really are and what you really think. That is what makes it so scary to be creative. You do not what to be judged on who you really are and what you think. But this book tells you how to deal with that fear. Everyone should read this book, I really enjoyed it.