I am not going to lie, going into college I imagined it as tons of free time, fun people, and a little bit of school work. Oh, how I was wrong. College has been a series of challenges that push me to limits farther than I knew possible. While I still do enjoy college, it is nowhere as easy as I thought it would be.

I chose to go to a school over a thousand miles away from home. While I do not regret this decision, the distance has made me realize how dependent I still am on my parents. I thought how hard can it be? This must have been a challenge of fate because on my second night at school I had my phone stolen and then I got into an Uber that was pulled over for having its light out. In college, anything can go wrong and there is little you can do to prepare for it. The best thing you can do is have a positive attitude and roll with the punches.

Classes in college are a lot different than those in high school and the transition is not always easy. Unlike high school, college calls for students to teach themselves. It can be difficult learning how to teach yourself and how to study correctly. Sometimes, you might not get the grades you want and it can discourage you from studying in the future. I found that the best thing to do is take your time when looking over the material and really test yourself to find the gaps in your knowledge.

With this is also the struggle of time management. In college, the amount of free time you have is deceiving. It seems like you only have two or three classes a day so there is plenty of time to do whatever. This could not be more wrong. While I take fifteen credit hours, it's more like thirty with all the homework and readings. As a student, you need to plan time for studying which is too often cut short by temptation. The temptation to do anything other than homework. And yes, homework is the most miserable thing ever.

Speaking of homework, ever heard of ALEKS? It's an online homework program that requires you to fill five bars in order to pass the objective. Get a question right you get a bar filled in, two correct in a row and you get double-credit. It's all fine until you get a problem wrong and you get bars taken away. All in all, it's the most infuriating thing ever when you can't get past an objective and you consider throwing your laptop across the room because that would be more helpful than the tips they provide.

Although all these things make me want to rip my hair out, it's not about the bad moments. My advice? Focus on the good moments that will make you forget about the bad ones. Hang in there, your hard work will soon pay off!