After the first month of attending JMU, I realized that I had learnt a lot in and outside of class. No doubt every freshman comes to college pondering the inevitable- will I be happy at JMU? When I came to college I had numerous questions buzzing through my head- are the classes easy, how are the athletic teams, will I be able to manage my time between playing golf and class, and plenty other questions followed. Over this last exhausting month, I have ultimately learnt that sometimes you can only learn from a situation rather than attempting to fix it.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that college is a lot like high school. In high school you had a curfew, your parents looked after you when you were sick and did your laundry, the teachers often "babied" you when it came to school work, and you more than likely weren't forced to share a bathroom with twelve other girls.
Students on the James Madison University quad
English: by Nathaniel Stickley on Saturday, Octobe...
Keezell Hall, home of the university's English and...Probably the most important information that you will learn is that you are now 18, which makes you an adult and accountable for your own actions. This basically means that your parents are on the sidelines watching you, while you're playing in the game. No longer can you rely on parents to fill out all your paper work or to call your school to tell them that you're sick - most professors don't even know your name, because they have hundreds of other students! In reality, when you are at college, it means that you have to become responsible for all aspects that you participate in.
Initially, when I was about to leave for college, I was upset. I had to leave my boyfriend of one year who was still in high school and all of my friends...