College

Out of the millions and millions of word in the English vocabulary, two didn't seem to exists in my vocabulary. What two words could be left out in my many years of education. Study for one, and reading. One may be thinking, how does one get by without either of these two very important concepts? And that's exactly it, one doesn't.

Writing essays and term papers in high school was always a piece of cake. I could procrastinate until the night before it was due and still receive As. Tests and quizzes, I wouldn't even break a sweat. Text books and novel reading, not something I would do, yet some how, I could get away with amazing grades.

Because I graduated with honors from high school and decided to go to a Cal State rather than a UC, I expected college to be a walk in the park, but how utterly mislead I was. Last semester, I was a simple freshman who believed in thirsty Thursdays and messed up Mondays forgetting where I was and why I was here. After seeing the results of such a fulfilled semester, it was time to buckle down and get back on track. There stood that wild party animal with a GPA of 1.87 and on academic probation. What to do now? One must be thinking, well study. But for guy who really never had to lift a finger high school, this is not an easy task. Certain skills are needed to be a good student, skills that I lacked, and would therefore have to develop.

And this is where this semester comes into play. Never before had I opened up a textbook and actually read assigned pages. In my years in high school I can remember reading only one book, The Catcher in the Rye. A book that began like an assignment but became my inspiration to read years later as a second semester freshman. Having to crack open a book like The Social Work Experience or Lucas The Art of Public Speaking and read forty pages as an assignment was an idea so nauseating, that I just can't go into detail.

If I wouldn't have