Study Habits
I am doing well in most of my classes. My classes are sociology, interpreting the American past,
math 103, chemistry lecture and chemistry lab, and introduction to health professionals. I am
doing well because I am keeping up with my work and doing the assignments correctly. Classes
that I find myself needing assistance in are math and chemistry. Some resources that I have
used to help me with these classes are going to the teachers office hours, going to different
study sessions and taking time out of my day to go over old assignments to refresh my memory.
I have found these strategies to be very helpful.

Transition to College
Some expectations I had coming to college was having like 3 to 4 classes, having more free
time to party and it being easy to make friends. These expectations have not been met yet
because I have 6 classes, no free time, and I barely talk to anyone. My college experience is
different then what I expected because the workload is crazy and I spend more time doing work
than having time for myself. What has surprised me about my first semester is the amount of
activities and resources ODU has to offer to the students. My toughest challenge so far as a
result of moving away from home is doing everything myself, like I’m really an independent adult
now. The easiest thing has to be having the freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want.

Major
One thing that I learned about my major is that not many people apply and not many people get
selected to join. My feelings toward this major have not changed, I still want to become a
medical examiner. It’s just now I realize how much effort I have to put in and how hard I have to
work to get there. Another major that I am interested in is cinema production, and art because I
used to be in drama club in high school. I’m a really good artist and I draw in my free time.

Connecting to Campus
One challenge I faced this semester was my mental health stressing me out because of the
workload and feeling like I can’t accomplish it. Some resources I used to help me out with this
were my mom, my advisor, different study groups and trying to find time for myself. My friends
and advisor have helped me get through this semester by believing in me, pushing me to do my
best, encouraging me, and pointing me in the right direction so I can get outside help too. No, I
have not attended any interest meetings for any clubs because this is my first semester and I’m
trying to get used to the campus and none of the clubs interest me yet.