Striking A Balance….

One of the hardest parts of first year university is striking a new balance in your life. From moving away from home to sharing a bedroom to having classes that are much more challenging and involve way more independent work than ever before, to meeting all new friends and finding your place in a new environment -- first year presents enormous numbers of new experiences, good, bad, and a mixture of the two.

My residence floor stayed up the entire night after move-in day talking and getting to know each other. We became like a family almost instantly and bonded more throughout frosh week. And then, of course, there are all the random people you’ll meet and grow to love over frosh week. Frosh week is one of the only times, ever, where you’ll be able to go up to anyone at all, introduce yourself, and instantly have a new friend. This was one of my favourite parts of coming to university, and also, with the possible exception of the exams, the most intense.

The week ended with the faculty of music serenading the campus with “Frosh Week Forever” to the beat of a song by some heavy metal rock group. And it did seem like frosh week could go on forever, but then those dreaded classes started. Wasn’t university supposed to be all about the social scene? My first round of midterms said otherwise. Fortunately, in most programs, you can redeem yourself as long as you don’t leave it too late before taking action.

My favourite (and most academically destructive part) of first year was living with all of my new best friends. When I was tired of studying, tired of chatting on msn or facebook, or even just tired in general, I could walk next door and hang out for hours on end. Spending 3 hours in the dining hall for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (each, of course) seemed natural. And then there was that ‘S’ word that everyone seems to forget about when they come to university…sleep.

My first two months of university were amazing. There had been so many things that were so enjoyable. I don’t regret anything, and wish I could relive every moment. But after that first midterm I realized that if I was going to continue on to second year, I needed to strike a better balance. I had enjoyed partying as much as I wanted and eating as much as I wanted. But now payback time had arrived in the form of my low midterm marks. I realized that I needed to set boundaries and learn some sort of discipline. I could party every night and have fun, I could lock myself in the room and study, or I could find a happy medium. The key to my taking control was realizing the consequences.

I didn't find it at all easy to organize my life in a more efficient way. It was a real struggle to balance things. I began to schedule some library time into all my days. Instead of using that two-hour afternoon break in class to go back to residence and nap, I hit the library and got readings done. I was shocked that I could get almost all my prelabs and reading done by just using the time I had between classes. I also started printing off my notes before every class, getting at least 6 hours of sleep every night, and studying on a weekly basis instead of cramming before exams.

Now that everyone reading this is probably snoozing, I need to point out that because of all this I actually felt like I had more time to hang out with my friends. My evenings and weekends were basically free because of the way I scheduled my days, and I never had to feel guilty about all the work I should be doing when I was procrastinating and wasting time. I boosted my marks after midterms, ended up getting the marks I'd expected of myself, and still had a BLAST!

Frosh week should be one of the best weeks of your life. So should the first month of school when life can go by in a more agreeable way than ever before. Enjoy it and make the most of it. But don't let it go on too long.