Blog Post 5 (10/17): Do YOU Know When You Register?

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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As usual, in this blog post, compare your experiences with those of Sarah, our protagonist. We see Sarah, having returned from Thanksgiving break, ready to tackle the last couple of weeks of school. You have also just returned from a similar time frame break and are likely facing more midterms. If you’re having difficulty thinking of ways to approach this, ask yourself these questions:

  1. Hopefully no one returned to a dead fish after the break, but how does it feel to be back with a roommate after being home (or not) where things are familiar?
  2. Do you know when you register? What classes you are hoping to get? Are there still things that seem so totally brand new to you here at Longwood?
  3. How do you think your experience at a small school compares to Sarah’s big midwestern school experience.
  4. Do you find yourself drifting further from your friends back home?
  5. You have TWO breaks quickly approaching, how do you think it will feel to be away from Longwood for an extended amount of time?

The further we travel down Sarah’s Freshman experience, the harder it will be for you to relate because you will not have had these experiences yet. This is when some deeper reflection on what you’ve already experienced will come in handy. It’s time to start PLANNING how you will handle the remainder of your freshman year.

 
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Starting College: Shared Experiences

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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I feel like I am able to relate to Sarah in many ways. Over the summer, I spent my time working and hanging out with my friends just like Sarah did. Unlike Sarah, who built close bonds with people from home before leaving, I distanced myself from most of my hometown friends and spent more time with my family and new people who were going to Longwood. I went to a concert that was similar to Summer Fest in the story. While she was shopping for school, she seemed overwhelmed and stressed. I felt the exact same way while I was getting my things together to move in. 

Sarah’s experience in this novel starts to vary from mine more once she moves into college. One difference in our experiences is that my friends and boyfriend helped me move in instead of my parents, so I did not say goodbye to them here at Longwood. Sarah was not friends with her roommate prior to coming to college. I already knew two of my suitemates and had a chance to hangout with them over the summer. Since I had people I was familiar with from the start, I think Sarah’s experience differed from mine. She had to start over and make new friends, so her first couple of days on campus seemed confusing and full of questions. I had a group to fall back on during the process of adjusting to college life, so I think I felt more comfortable than she seems to be in the story. 

Although our experiences weren’t exactly the same, the small comments made throughout the novel about classes, emails, and scheduling during her first week of school were funny and relatable to me. It shows how a lot of us are going through the same stressful feelings during this period of change and growth. 



 
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The College Experience So Far (Blog Post #3)

Engl 165-09 Fall '24, Freshman

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While reading the first part of the graphic novel Freshman Year, I learned about the activities which occupied Sarah’s summer before starting college, her move-in experience, and her first week of college. In doing so, I was able to connect some of her experiences to mine, while also seeing how they differed. Some of these activities included having a summer job, hanging out with friends and family, and shopping for dorm essentials. Although we did similar things over the summer, I think the specifics of them are where our experiences vary greatly. For instance, Sarah’s summer job included mowing lawns, gardening, and walking dogs, etc. On the other hand, I worked at a gym as a swim instructor, teaching young children how to swim. In the later part of the reading, I was also able to connect Sarah’s experiences of moving in and her first week to my own. In regard to moving in, I had my family with me just like Sarah. However, she only had her parents helping her, while I had all three of my siblings in addition to my parents. Similar to Sarah, my first week here at Longwood was spent attending required events to get us settled into campus. These events included navigating the campus, attending presentations full of important information, and taking part in small activities, such as icebreaker games to get to know each other. I was genuinely surprised to find all of these similarities with Sarah from my summer and very first college experiences. Despite all of these similarities there are still of course big differences. Some of these would be the university which we are attending, as well as what we are studying; Sarah is undecided, but leaning towards studying English, and I am studying Nursing. Overall, regardless of any differences in my experience compared to Sarah’s, I was able to connect with the story and her as a freshman in college.
Reflecting on my summer and my time at Longwood so far, I am left feeling slightly regretful. I am filled with many different emotions and feelings, but for some reason that is the first one that comes to mind. It is not regret for anything I have done, but for things that I have not done. For example, I regret not spending more time with my friends and family before I left. After this summer I began to realize just how fast time can go by and this understanding only increased since I have been here at Longwood. I am overjoyed at the positive experiences I have had and the incredible friends I have made thus far, but there is so much going on all the time, making it difficult to slow down and enjoy these things. Despite this feeling of regret, I am hopeful that I will soon find a better balance and be able to truly enjoy the wonderful experiences college has to offer.
 
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Blog Post #1: Who Will You Be in Four Years?

Academic Writing, Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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Dear Future Self, 

You are currently in your first year at Longwood University as a Nursing student. As expected, the transition into college life has been full of challenging feelings, such as anxiety and uncertainty. On a more positive note, you are currently feeling extremely optimistic toward your future here. You have found comfort in the little town of Farmville and the beautiful campus it has to offer. I am confident that this feeling of comfort never faded for you and has only grown over four years. Is that the case?

A more specific part of this transition that you found difficult is determining the best way to balance all of the academic responsibilities at hand. Furthermore, you are finding it difficult to develop study habits that will serve you best in each course you are taking. Therefore, I hope that you have been able to figure that out for yourself and have used them throughout all four years. In addition to that, hopefully you found a way to divide time between all responsibilities, leaving time for yourself within all of them. 

As a Nursing student, you are currently aware of the difficulty the next four years is going to bring you. Did it end up being as bad as everybody makes it seem? Despite any hardship, I trust that you stuck with it and avoided giving up on yourself. I hope that you have come out of it confident in your abilities and are ready to bring them into the real world. Ideally you have now had a successful outcome on the NCLEX, and therefore have earned your official nursing license. I wish you the best of luck in your next journey of finding a job opportunity. I am very curious to find out whether you stuck with the original specialty you wanted to pursue or if you have found a passion for another one. 

The aspect of life that I hope you have grown in the most is your social experiences. Although the main purpose of college is to learn and help build a career, it is not the only one of college. That being said, I truly hope you allowed yourself to get involved in something other than your own studies. It could be as simple as getting to know more people and forming life-long friendships. Whatever they may be, I hope you went as far as getting involved in clubs and finding new hobbies to occupy your time. Seeing that you have always enjoyed service, and you are making a whole career out of it, I am hopeful that you found a way to get involved in it somewhere on or around campus. 

Most importantly, I hope you are genuinely happy and are satisfied with everything you accomplished over the last four years. 

Best Wishes, 

Present Self

 
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Who Will You Be In Four Years?( (Blog Post due, Thursday, Sept 5th, Groups 1 & 3) Academic Writing, Engl 165-09 Fall ’24

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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Dear future me, I hope that firstly, that you thoroughly enjoy where you have found yourself. I hope in your time at Longwood you have built many strong long lasting friendships though clubs and classes alike. I hope you have expanded your knowledge and problem solving skills by way of rigorous coding projects and extensive research into textbooks, PDFs, papers, and lectures. One of the main goals I Have for you is to figure out where exactly our computer science major will take us. Currently I’m overwhelmed by everything from the extremely specialized fields to the broad, all encompassing jobs. I expect as you take more complex and in depth classes you will have found your niche.I hope you have also taken advantage of the very welcoming environment, broken out of your shell and are talking to new people regularly , and have jumped into getting involved on campus and have even joined many clubs, some of which might be long time activities you have partaken in such as card games but others which you are just trying for the first time maybe an art or photography club, as there will not be a better place to step out of your comfort zone than here at Longwood. Also you have hopefully joined a recreational soccer team on campus to stay active and balance school with personal hobbies. I assume you have supported the many school sports teams here by attending games and prep rallies. A relatively small goal I hope you achieve is to spend time walking High bridge trail and getting out into nature, maybe on the weekend. I hope I take the time to dig deep into subjects that intrigue me via the library and its extensive catalog. In 4 years I hope you have found you had the opportunity to thrive and learn and you took it.



 
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Who Will You Be in Four Years? (Blog Post due, Thursday, Sept. 5th, Groups 1&3)

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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Dear Future Self,

Over the course of your four years at Longwood, I hope you have gotten to accomplish all your goals while enjoying the college experience. Although the most important thing to me is to obtain a degree in Elementary Education, getting involved in Longwood traditions and building relationships are also a major part of what college is about. I hope that your journey at Longwood is more than just attending classes and doing assignments. There are so many opportunities to learn about what you are curious about and establish bonds with people.
During my first couple of weeks here, I’ve already made many new friends. I can imagine that the bonds will only grow over time. As part of building connections and getting involved, I hope that you join a sorority. Being part of a group is good for socializing and having a sense of belonging. It’s an opportunity to meet new people and try new things.
Another hope I have for you is that you learn a variety of new things. I don’t just mean doing well in your classes, or getting good grades. I hope that you learn in depth about topics that were taught at a surface level during high school. College is where we get to learn about things that interest us. Even though they are not always fun topics, having a wide range of knowledge will be useful later.
Above all else, I hope that you spent your time at Longwood growing into the person you want to be. I’m not quite sure what that looks like yet, but I think that during college you will have discovered yourself. If you got involved by participating in Greek life, hanging out with your friends, joining in on Longwood traditions, I have no doubt that you have had fun and made lifelong friendships. If you spent the time to understand and apply what you learned during college, then you should feel confident and ready for the next step in life.

Sincerely,

Freshman you

 
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Who Will You Be in Four Years? (Blog Post due, Thursday, Sept 5th, Groups 1 & 3)

Academic Writing, Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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In this blog post, you will write a letter to your future self. What is it that you want to say to your future self about their journey at Longwood? What do you hope your future self accomplishes? What types of experiences do you hope your future self will have had during four years at Longwood?

This will require you to think in detail about the types of things you hope to do while you are here? Do you hope your future self will have gotten involved while here? Be specific, what types of things do you hope you’ll be involved in? It’s all about the details.

Remember that ALL blog post have to be 300-500 words in length. Not over, and NOT under. Points will be taken if you are either.