Week 1 Reflection 

The first week of college has been overall a fun and good experience. My roommates and I got along right away and bonded very well. We all introduced ourselves to each other’s friends and over the course of two days we all became very good friends. Weve been hanging out and doing things off campus like going shopping. On the first day of classes I was excited for how my schedule is set up. My classes are mostly at the end of the day, and I have a lot of time in the morning to do a lot of things to help me throughout the week. This term I’m looking forward to joining clubs and seeing what things I can get involved with that I will enjoy. Some of the things I have a concern about is the workload and if my classes are going to be hard. 

Weekly reflection 2

Week 2 of college has been a comforting experience. This week I was able to see what my days look like and how to plan my routine for the days. For next week, I will be able to make a routine that fully satisfies what needs to get done. For the upcoming term I am looking forward to forming healthy habits and being able to manage my time well. Some concerns I have for this term is being overwhelmed with the amount of work that has to be done, but again by managing my time. The residence halls are something that takes time to adjust to but were easier than I imagined. Living in the hall versus the dorm is difficult yet easy. Living in a small space with two other people is very hard to try and have your own space. Something I am grateful for is how well I get along with my roommates and how good of friends we are. Living in the hall was an easier adjustment that I thought, getting to know people on our floor makes it a lot more comfortable. Luckily for my roommates and I, our room is next to the showers so it’s never a far walk for us. 

Weekly reflection 3 

The first official week of classes and I am able to form a good routine with my classes. My classes have been going well and I am interested in every topic. The classes I enjoy the most are my bio class and lab. I also find sociology very interesting. Currently I am not struggling with any of my classes, but statistics isn’t my favorite. I don’t have many concerns, yet I might decide I should get a tutor for my stats class. It’s still an adjustment to get used to the way classes are now and I am finding new ways to do stuff every day. This weekend I went home and got to visit my friends and spend time with family. My classes got out early and my last class was canceled on Friday, so I was able to leave really early in the day. It was good to get some time some time apart from being constantly stimulated with people being around me. I missed my train coming back to the school, so my dad ended up bringing me back to the school which resulted in me coming back late.

Weekly Reflection 4 

It’s officially been a month since we’ve moved in and everyday there is something new to adapt about. Some things are still an adjustment especially with the small room and sharing that small of a space with three people. This week was nothing less of usual, but I have noticed we are learning a lot more material in all the classes. Compared to the past weeks we’ve had; we have been learning more in depth things in all of our classes. So far, the classes have been good, but I have noticed the point we’ve reached where it’s almost a “let’s get into business” mode instead of an let’s try and adjust into what we’re doing here. My roommates and I for the last two weekends have been leaving to go home and or visit friends, so it’s been a while since we were all here at once. This weekend one of my roommates and our friend went to UNH to visit our friend’s sister, who is a junior there. I was able to drive my friend’s car, with her permission, and drop them off at the train station. It felt good to drive around since I haven’t driven since I went back home last weekend. As a thank you for letting me drive your car, I put 20$ in her tank and also got a car from some people at the school who were hosting a car for one of the clubs. 

Weekly Reflection 5 

So far, the weeks have been pretty much the same as the last and they’re finally reaching a point of routine. Other than the days becoming more comfortable, there has definitely been an increase in work. As the classes go on more professors are assigning bigger assignments rather than the normal homework’s we have had before. I have a couple projects in my classes that we have started and they’re becoming a little overwhelming. Other than the assignments and work; This week I also had my first two exams. After taking them, I can finally see how exams in college a lot are more intense than the exams in high school. Although I didn’t do as well as I was hoping to on one of them, I am using this experience moving forward to focus on how to study for future exams. Also, I am able to tell that reviewing after my classes is really important to make sure the information is in my long-term memory. This weekend was also parents’ weekend, since my father had surgery and wasn’t able to come, only my mother did. She ended up coming up on Friday night and staying in a hotel until Sunday morning. On Saturday she came to campus to pick me up, we got lunch, and we went shopping in Portland. We didn’t do much on campus since it was just my mother and I, but we ended up going out to dinner after and hanging out in the hotel. Other than the stressful week I did have a pretty relaxing weekend. 

Weekly Reflection 6

This week felt short since we had Friday off, but I still felt like there was a lot going on. As I mentioned last week, the professors have been adding on lots of big assignments. The pressure in getting those done are really starting to hit, with the stress of how to meet the expectations they are looking for. In my lab we have a paper due that we only primarily got one day to do research on in class. Since we only had one class to do research, our labs were canceled this week; I am left with lots of questions that I’m not sure when will be answered. Besides the stress from classes a good thing was the number of days we had off. Although due to a family emergency, I had to leave early Thursday morning in order to come back, it also felt nice being home for a couple days longer than just the weekend. On Thursday and Friday, I spent the majority of the day with my family and on Friday night I got dinner at one of my favorite restaurants back home. The restaurant is in a common area with shops and other restaurants around it, so we took a walk around and got ice cream. Then on Saturday my boyfriend and I went apple picking, yet we were unable to since it is really late in the season too. Instead, we picked up a bag of the apples they had in the shop they had there, and we also got pumpkins to carve.

Weekly reflection 7 

This week has not been as stressful as usual. Since it is in the middle of the semester, we are in the middle of a few big assignments and the weeks have been going by super-fast compared to the weeks prior. My roommate and I got back from going home last weekend, and she ended up getting an ear infection. So, when we came back here, we brought her to the doctors and figured out that situation. Besides the classes this week we went to go look at Halloween costumes and we went out to get dinner on Wednesday. Then this weekend my roommates and I went to Kennebunkport. We got dinner all together, then went to look around in the shops then our friend picked us up. I ended up seeing my friend that is a year older than me and we got to catch up on everything since the last time we saw each other.

Weekly Reflection 8 

Since we are about halfway through the semester it has become more comfortable being on campus and in the classes. It has reached a point where I’m feeling more comfortable with my environment and it’s not feeling so new to me. In my art class we started a huge project which is a self-portrait of ourselves and I’m excited to paint it throughout the week. I’m starting to study for my midterms and get ready for the big exams and projects we’re going to get assigned. This week hasn’t been much of anything except the usual, but it was still busy. I went to SASC for the first time this week for math and it left with a better understanding of the concepts I was struggling with. I wrote down the times they had tutoring for math and I’m going to go back this week for more help. On Friday my friend Maya, who is a sophomore, invited me to go to the mall with her. After we went shopping, we decided to get dinner at chipotle, it was really good to see her. We’ve known each other for a while since we used to live in the same town, and we also played lacrosse together in high school. On Sunday one of my roommates, one of our really good friends and I went to Salem mass to walk around. We ended up going pretty late and we weren’t sure what we were going to end up doing. None of us have been to Salem before and it was a really cool experience especially my Roommate and I being from mass. We ended up walking around for a couple hours and then we went to dinner. 

Weekly reflection 9 

This week went by faster than weeks prior. I have a few midterms in some classes and big exams coming up that I am beginning to study for. In some of my classes it feels we aren’t getting much work outside of class except to study for the tests and exams and it seems too just be a little overwhelming. Some of my professors are starting to talk about the finals which is making me feel more prepared for them. I noticed I enjoy going to the library to study rather than the commons or the second floor since it is a lot quieter. This weekend wasn’t very exciting for me unfortunately, but I still did have a lot of fun. My roommates and I dressed up and went to one of our friends for Halloween, which was a lot of fun, but I ended up feeling sick on Saturday afternoon. For the most part I didn’t have a lot of cool things I did this week since I was sick for most of the weekend. I put a picture of the view I took from studying in the library on Friday!

Weekly reflection 10 

Just like last week I was sick for a good majority of this week. Something I learned from being sick is how hard it is to catch up. Even though I ended up missing one day of classes, that one day of classes resulted in me spending hours in the library doing work and making up notes. I was able to use that as a learning experience so I know that if I do have to miss class this is what I have to do in order to make that work up. For the most part the beginning of the week I was resting and taking the days to get better. Then during the middle of the week I started to feel well enough to go to my lab and catch up on some work and study for my exam on Thursday. Then at the end of the week, my sickness ended up worsening and I decided to take the train home so I could go to the doctors. After my appointment I was able to get some antibiotics and I spent most of the time resting. It felt nice to be able to rest at my house and be able to see my family for a little bit. Since I have to miss a day of classes, It’s also nice to be able to catch up on homework while I rest in a quiet environment rather than being in the dorms. For the most part this week has been somewhat stressful since it feels like I have had a lot of work but I also know it is important to give my body the rest it needs in order to get better. Since I haven’t had a super eventful week, I attached a picture of my dog I took while I was trying to do homework! 

Weekly reflection 11 

Week 6 of college has been a little more stressful than the weeks prior. From being sick I have had to make up a lot of work in all of my classes. Something I noticed was how easy it is to fall behind in classes, and how long it takes to make up for the missed work. I have spent a lot of time making up the work I have missed and I feel although I somehow am not even caught up. This past week consisted of me trying my hardest to make sure I am not behind In my classes. Other than that, In the majority of my classes the thought of finals is starting to really take place. In two of my classes I have exams and the other classes are projects or papers, so these assignments are starting to get a rolling start. I have noticed that the assignments in my classes are very time consuming but they’re not as many things to do for them. Being able to take each assignment step by step and do them in multiple sittings work best for me, rather than sitting all at once and feeling rushed to finish an assignment. Moving into the weekend, my friend Caroline from home came up to visit for the weekend. It was really nice to have her visit and it’s cool to have someone from home put into perspective how my life here is. She drove up on Friday night and stayed over then on Saturday morning we went to breakfast and then we went to Portland. It ended up being a very nice day to go out since it was supposed to rain, so we ended up shopping and getting food. Then that night we took a drive down to Kennebunkport just to walk around and see the area before she left later that night. The sunset was super pretty so I put a picture of the view in Kennebunkport! 

Weekly reflection 12 

This week has been pretty stressful for the most part. It has been a lot of work and getting assignments done before the break. This semester flew by and these last few weeks have gone by so fast. There has been so much to do in each of the classes, especially preparing for finals and projects. In most of my classes I feel like I have more projects but It’s also an equal amount with the exams. For the most part the work has been manageable yet time consuming but also a lot of work that has to be done. This is something I never really had to deal with in high school. Since covid happened we only had one year where we had midterms and finals. Once we went back into school our principal made it a rule we weren’t having those exams since it was hard to bring students back to having huge exams again. For my weekend, I ended up leaving school on Friday since I had a Doctors appointment on Saturday. From all the doctors visits and medications they have put me on I am still not better from being sick a few weeks ago. Although that was a negative from this week, still being sick, I was able to capture a cool picture of Boston when I got off the train Friday night. 

Weekly reflection 13

This week was a good shift in environment given the high amounts of stress at school. It was good to be home for a longer amount of time rather than just a weekend. This week I worked 3 days at my job back at home. I work at Michaels craft store in a cute area about 30 minutes from where I live. Coming back to work from being away was definitely an odd experience. Before I left for school, I didn’t have many coworkers and coming back to a lot more people working was definitely an adjustment. Being home with family was also a good thing since I haven’t seen my family all together in a while. Also, being able to see my friends from high school was a good experience since I haven’t seen them since leaving for college. One of my friends owns a lake house about 45 minutes from our hometown so we went to her lake house and did some Christmas shopping at a crystal store and a few other places. My week consisted mostly of working and being with family and seeing some friends, but it definitely got me excited to go home for longer during winter break.