Three Things I’ve Learned in Three Weeks of College

So far I’ve experienced three full weeks of life as a college student. Now, seeing that tiny number completely downplays my college-knowledge credibility, but if you’re seeking out an honest first impression of life on campus, then you’ve come to the right article. Here are 3 things I’ve learned in three weeks of college at UNL.

1. Being surrounded by strangers is more intimidating than anticipated.

The most common piece of advice I’ve been given for college is “really get to know your professors, it will make your life a lot easier.” Yeah…much easier said than done. I am one in a population of 25,897 students. Like most other freshmen I have not one, but five lecture classes. That is five classes ranging anywhere from one hundred to three hundred people. So to say I feel a bit insignificant would sum it up well.

The minute class is over, at least 20-25 people rush down to wait in line for a chat with the professor. Sometimes questions are asked that I never even would have considered and interesting conversations ensue. If I wait in line, I now have the daunting task of trying to be one of the memorable ones. What do I even ask? How many people just asked a form of my question before me? How annoying will I be if I just introduced myself? I mean, I want to be the student that sparks their interest, who doesn’t? But when surrounded by 200 others with the same mind set, it's pretty natural to feel irrelevant.

2. Those same strangers tend to feel the exact same way.

I went to high school about ten minutes away from the University, so as expected I see quite a few familiar faces every day. In the situations where I'm on my own, however, I've realized it's best to just talk to the strangers. Soon after I start talking to them, we usually find out we have things in common. Sometimes we have the same major, maybe we like similar music, or what I've found to be the best relatable topic, we are all just as overwhelmed as each other.

I have one class of under 100 people, and in it we split off into two groups of ten. After day one introductions, I was convinced that everyone around me was a thousand times more confident and way more experienced than I was. All it took was one more week and come to find out they all have the same concerns as me. There was at least one person in the group who knew a bit about each project and programs used for it, so after we all told each other our progress (or lack there-of) on our projects, we were all able to at least get something rolling. Knowing that we are all in the same boat has really lowered my nerves for this class, and now I'm actually really excited to work with these people for the rest of the semester.

3. Organization is the single most important thing you can control.

Some people are sticky note people, some swear by planners, others may rely on their phone calendars. I tend to be a list person. I have a note on my phone dedicated to my to-do list that I used all throughout high school. I figured going to college would be a good time to make new habits, so I decided to use a planner.

That lasted about two days.

I don't always have my backpack at my convenience, so when we'd get told something on week one that we would need to remember, I'd think "oh yeah, I'll write that down later, my planner and pencil are too far away." Occasionally I wrote it down on my laptop desktop. Then I'd get an e-mail about an assignment at nine at night or my group made a plan to meet up. Eventually I had about four different potential places where assignments and tasks were written down and couldn't keep track of it all. Alas, as expected, I wrote it all down in my phone and I've been going strong since.

One thing out of my control, however, is the four different websites/apps my teachers like to post assignments in. That I'll just have to suffer through.

My college journey has been a short one so far, yet it feels like I've been here for quite awhile. First impressions are always important and although I was a little nervous initially, after three weeks...I think I've got this.