My First Semester at IU Indianapolis

      When I applied to IU Indianapolis, I never anticipated actually going. I was just using it as a back up and another place to apply to. Until I realized I didn't want to leave home and chose IU Indianapolis as my place to be. I had been around campus before but never took an official visit, so I was just hoping for the best. Orientation was the first time I had officially visited and I remember being super excited about it. The location was ideal, I am from a very rural area so I always enjoy being in the city. Fast-forward to now, I am very happy I decided to come here, I have made lots of friends and have had some super fun experiences. One learning experience was the virtual exchange project, I thought that was cool experience to be able to interact and have discussions with people from the UK. Another experience I had was bridge week. I think bridge week was super helpful, it helped me find my way around campus, connect with people, and get familiar with where I would be spending the next four years.

​      I have learned that I am good at getting things done ahead of schedule. Being ahead of my work has made this semester much easier for me because I am not stressing about due dates and getting things done it time. Using my time on campus to finish my work gives me free time when I am not here on campus so I don't have to worry about school when I am at work or with family. A weakness I learned I had and worked on overcoming was my lack of study skills. For my first P-205 lecture exam, I was so stressed, I realized I didn't know how to properly study for something when I am not given what exact information is going to be on the test, the first exam I did not do as well as I wanted to. But then the next I did better because I had time to work on my study skills and habits.

      I think adapting to independence and the course work level was a big lesson I dealt with in my first semester at IU Indianapolis. I was not someone who usually had a lot of work to do, I would get it done and not think about it after the fact. But the course work from high school to college is much different, I realized I was going to have to do work outside of class to be successful. I still am able to manage my work but learning how to deal with and organize my work outside of class was a big adjustment. I also had to learn independency to a different level. I have always been a fairly independent person but coming to college was a big change, I commute so I don't have a roommate or someone who has the exact same schedule as me or someone I spend all my time with. Honestly, the independency has actually helped me, it has been nice to have time to myself and utilize that time to work towards my degree. I can use this lesson for my life going forward as, I won't always have the same workload, I will have to adapt to what I have at that time and ability to adapt is a good skill to have going into a career, also the independency will be good because I won't always have someone there to help me so being able to work on my own is good. A piece of advice for next semester is just to keep doing what I am doing.