My study habits have changed a lot throughout the semester which helped me a lot with my classes, but one class that I am doing well in is History. This is because at first, my study habit for History was to read all the readings and take notes. However, I have realized that listening to Mrs. White’s lectures and writing notes down while she is talking is a better way to help me understand the topic. Also engaging myself in class discussions has helped me understand the topic more and more, by recalling my memories that Mrs. White went over in her lectures. One class that I would identify that I needed assistance on, is Chemistry. This is because I realized that Chemistry is not an easy class for me to learn by myself because I don’t understand a lot of the topic. But thank you that there’s the Chemistry Success Center because I go there a lot with my concerns and questions that I don’t understand about. They are very helpful when it comes to studying for exams but also when anyone has trouble solving homework questions.I live on campus so going to the Chemistry Success Center is very convenient.

  Coming into college my expectations were very high. Since I’m a first-generation college student in my family, I have a lot of pressure on myself since I expected that college is not easy and that you have to work hard for what you want, and the expectation did come to fruition. Because I realized that there are very hard classes that I need to work extra hard on to be successful. In a way, the college experience is different from what I’ve expected because I didn’t think that there are so many resources on campus that would help me succeed. Plus, what has surprised me so far in this semester is the number of friends that I have made living on campus since they pushed me to study hard and focus on my goal to become a nurse. If I did not live on campus, then I don’t think I would have a chance to meet people that have impacted me so much so far. Also living on campus has its tough challenges and I think my toughest challenges would be missing my parents from back home and eating Vietnamese food that my parents make. But I slowly overcame that by calling my parents every day and by asking my friends to drive me to restaurants that have Vietnamese food, but it could not beat my parents’ food because that will always have a spot in my heart. With the addition of having tough challenges to overcome, there are also easy challenges which are waking up in time for my 8 am class. I do not find that difficult anymore because all I need to do is to sleep early. 

One thing that I have learned about my intended major which is nursing is that it’s going to be harder and harder as you move on to become a nurse. But however, I will not give up and I will work even harder and become successful. This means my feelings about becoming a nurse definitely did not change because I always think about what my main goal was at the beginning, which is to become a successful nurse and take care of my family, no matter the cost. Recently, I’ve just gone to my academic advisor for my next year classes and I have chosen a gen Ed that is dance class, and I was also doing some research about dance and found interest in it. So I think I will try to minor in dance because it seems fun, interesting, and I’m hoping that it could help me relieve my stress. 

One problem that I have encountered this semester so far is failing my Chemistry exam. After failing my chemistry exam, I realized that something needed to be done. So I went to the Chemistry Success Center and asked for help every day after class so that I could better understand the topic and do well. With utilizing resources like the Chemistry Success Center, there is also a friend that helped me a lot with studying for my exams and helped me understand what I am doing in Chemistry Lab, and I am thankful for that. We would do chemistry homework together and if there’s something that I don’t understand, I would ask him. Other than doing school work, I’ve also joined VSA (Vietnamese Student Association) and SNA (Student Nurses Association.) I’ve decided to get involved with these clubs because I wanted to meet new friends and have an opportunity to have fun and be less stressed about school.