10 Things I Learned My First Year of College

Hello friends! As of a few weeks ago, I finished my first year of college at Michigan Tech. Today I thought it would be fun to share some lessons I learned and things I did over the year! I fell off the face of blog world (again) but I’ll have some time this summer and I have some things to write about.

1. I don’t have all A’s anymore. And that’s okay. The stress it would have been to get a 4.0 was not worth it to me. I was pretty close..maybe one semester!

2. The professors don’t know you or care if you go to class. (Don’t worry Mom I always went anyway;) It’s a lot different than high school where teachers are also your coaches and you can’t just not go to class.

3. Exams are hard!! A 60-70% on a physics exam was normal for me. In fact I stayed up the whole night before my final studying and still got a 64%…thankfully I’m all done with physics forever. And chem. And since each class is only a semester, it’s like two school years in one. It was weird coming back from Christmas break and having a whole new schedule.

4. I also had to work on my time management skills. There were too many nights where I was up late finishing a project or studying for an exam where I could’ve easily done it earlier. While I had homework in high school, I never had to make time to “study”. That changed a lot. I’m still working on it.

5. I learned that it’s okay to eat by yourself. At least once a day I went to the dining hall alone. It might feel awkward or like people are looking at you, but they’re not. No one cares who you sit or don’t sit with. I also noticed that when I ate with people I tended to eat more, even if I wasn’t hungry.

6. Which leads me to…the freshman 15 are REAL. Going up for seconds, multiple dessert choices everyday, late night cheese curds in the cafe…I definitely gained a couple pounds. Luckily I’m at a place now where I can accept that and it won’t take over my life.

7. Going along with all. the. food, you have to find time to workout on your own. No more sports practice everyday. It’s completely up to you whether you run or lift or lay in bed all day. I had a nice mix of all three.

8. There are lots of groups to join for hobbies! This year I played on a softball team, basketball team, drill team and even a hockey team. There were also some times I felt I spread myself too thin, but this was a learning year.

9. Roommates. You could luck out and end up meeting your best friend, or it could not be so good…I had two roommates, in a room not much bigger than a normal two person room. I’m hoping that next year will be better.

10. It goes fast! I can’t believe I already finished a year of college. It really did feel like home and I didn’t want to leave, but I’m glad to be home for a few more days before I head to Alaska (more on that later!!)

And some highlights from the year!!

I’m in Air Force ROTC, which you can read more about why here! Many of the things I did this year were ROTC related and I’m very thankful for all of the experiences it has given me.

This is my drill team at one of our performances. In March we went to New York for a competition where we took second! We also performed at local schools.

I went to lots of hockey and football games! 

In February I got to go on a Civil Air Patrol flight. This is me flying the plane!

I also got to go on a KC-135 flight where we refueled F-15s and A-10s. Pretty cool.

I celebrated my first Winter Carnival. This is us in front of our statue.

I went to Mil Ball

And I went down to Ohio to visit Wright Patterson Air Force Base! 

Overall it was a great year, and I’m excited to see what the next years will bring. I am so thankful for everyone who has reached out to me and sent me words of encouragement. On to the next adventure!