Post #19: Changes

When I was in high school, I was pretty quiet with a fairly small group of friends.  Since coming to the University of Michigan, I have really been trying to be more outgoing with friends, classmates, and fellow residents of Alice Lloyd, and though I feel like I am meeting more friends and getting to know people, I haven't totally changed.  I'm still a fairly quiet person--that is, when I don't know a person very well--but I've been taking more risks socially.  I guess that's something that's changed since I got to college.



I've also developed a much better work ethic.  In high school, I got good grades, but didn't really put as much effort and thoroughness into my homework and essays as I should have.  Since being here, I have realized that's it's not possible to turn in papers and projects and to do well on exams without putting a lot of effort into it, whether that means writing multiple drafts or studying the same terms for hours at a time.  And as a result, I feel like I am learning more from the mistakes I make on assignments and fixing them so to do better.  I really feel like I am succeeding academically more now than I was before college.

Before coming to the University of Michigan, I was so ready to get out of the house.  I was going out more and giving my parents a hard time the few times I actually was home, but now that I'm here, I realize how much I relied on them before, and that I really miss them.  True, my parents are just across town, so I can visit practically anytime I want to, but the fact that I'm not actually living there right now just kind of makes me sad sometimes.  I guess this will get better as time goes on, but this was one change that I didn't expect to happen at college.