Mid Semester Reflection

Study Habits
What classes are you doing well in, and why? I am doing well in all of my classes but especially Literature and Chemistry Lab. Those have my highest grades. I think I am doing best in those classes because they have a more hands on learning style and I do best with hands on learning. I like to be able to do things and see how things work by messing with them. For instance in literature we made puppets to act out different plays to help us understand the history of plays and how they were performed.
What classes did you identify as needing assistance in? I don’t really need assistance in any of my classes. However, I will say Chemistry has been one of my harder classes of the semester. And to keep up I just make sure that I continue to take notes in class and study enough before each exam.
Transition to College
What expectations did you have coming to college? I did not have too many expectations with coming to college because I have already been in college previously while enrolled in high school. I did however expect the living on campus to difficult and the socializing. I expected this because I am a very organized person so living with someone can present a challenge if they are not as organized or tidy as I am. As well as I am more mature then most people my age so when it comes to socializing that can present a problem because I don’t drink, smoke, or party.
Have those expectations come to fruition, or not?How?In what way is your college experience different from what you expected?What has surprised you about your experiences so far this semester? These expectations have come to fruition because my roommate although is pretty tidy with most things isn’t as tidy and we’ve had a couple issues. This is her first time being a roommate which makes sense while I have had experience with being a roommate before. Socializing has also been hard because I don’t go to the parties and do things that people think are “cool”. My experience isn’t too
different from what I expected because I have talked to a lot of people who went to college before me and they told me a lot about what would happen. The biggest surprise about my experience so far has probably been getting threatened by someone who came into my dorm room.
If you live on campus: What has been your toughest challenge with moving away to college? Easiest challenge to overcome? My toughest challenge to overcome is probably handling issues on my own that I would normally have my family there for. I get a lot more independence which is nice. The easiest challenge for me to overcome is being away from my family. I’ve spent time away from my family a lot growing up with all my activities so being away from home hasn’t really affected me too much.
MajorName something you have learned about your intended major that you did not know at the beginning of the semester. I did not know that the program was so rigid and there was really no help if you did not fit the perfect curriculum that they had. This includes coming in with credits/transferring in. It is hard to do for this program and often causes a lot of grief.
Is there a friend, roommate, professor, advisor, or group in the ODU community who has helped you so far this semester? There is no one from the ODU community who has really helped me so far this semester. I’ve been able to do pretty well on my own. But, there are definitely a lot of people in my classes that we help each other out a lot when we’re in need with little things like an assignment.
Have you attended an interest meeting for a club? I have not attended an interest meeting for a club but plan to do so soon.
Themester: Sustainability (Environment)What new sustainable practices have you learned about so far this semester? I have not learned any new sustainable practices this semester only because I learned about them before attending ODU. I was in the scouts and participated a lot with sustainability projects such as Leave No Trace and even became a Leave No Trace trainer.
 
What sustainable practices would you like to begin participating in? I already do it but mostly at home because it is not readily available at ODU, but I would like to start recycling more and hopefully I can find a recycling bin to use.Is there anything more you would like to learn about sustainability for the rest of the semester? There isn’t anything else I would like to learn about sustainability this semester.