Going To College

Going to College

It was a cool day in August and my mom's truck was all packed up and ready to go. It was a big day for me. I was finally going to college. I had received the South Carolina Teaching Fellows scholarship for the University of South Carolina in Columbia and today was the day that I moved into my dorm. I was going to have a kind of freedom that I had never experienced before, and more responsibilities than I was ready for.

This was the first time that I would be living away from home, and I didn't know what to think. I was going to be living with complete strangers! What was my roommate going to be like? Would we get along? Would we even like each other? And what about classes? How hard would they be and would my professors be nice? All those questions and more were going through my head during the hour long trip from Flat Creek to Columbia.

When I got to my dorm room in Patterson Hall, Krystal, my roommate, was already there. She seemed like a nice person, but I still wasn't sure if I would like her or not. After my mom left, Krystal and I went to eat dinner at the Russell House. It was very awkward because neither one of us talked much. We ate quickly and went back to our room. She left to go see her boyfriend and I stayed to finish unpacking. I decided during that first dinner that I didn't like Krystal that much. She wasn't like any of my friends from home. I later found out that she didn't really like me either. Although we didn't like each other, we got along really well and we never fought. We just kind of stayed out of the other's way and kept to ourselves.

Classes didn't start until the week after I moved to Columbia. I went and got all of my books and was eager for classes to start. When they did, I was the good little college student. I never missed a class and always did my homework. Even when I went home on the weekends for work, I did school work. That lasted for about two months. My classes became more difficult and my professors were not very helpful. I started missing classes and not doing assignments or turning them in late. I finally had the freedom that I had wanted. I didn't have someone there always telling me what to do and my professors didn't seem to care if I was in class or not. So, instead of going to class, or writing that paper that was due yesterday, I would sleep or play on my computer. When I did go to class, I was unprepared and always lost. I knew that I wasn't doing my best, but I didn't think that I would fail. I just thought that I wouldn't make the grades that I was capable of.

First semester ended and I did fail. Everything except for University 101. I didn't tell anyone that I failed. Instead, I made up some grades that sounded good and let everyone believe that I was still being the good little college student.

When second semester started, I swore to myself that I would do better. And I did, at first. One difference between the beginnings of second semester and first semester was that I became more involved in the Teaching Fellows program and Patterson Hall Government. I made more friends and didn't miss home as much. I wasn't working anymore, so I wasn't going home as much as I did first semester. I was finally starting to get comfortable in Columbia and I thought that I was doing better.

After spring