Freshman 15

I have been a first semester freshman at Middle Tennessee State University for three months now. Prior to coming to here, I always heard about college freshman gaining at least fifteen pounds after their first year or semester. Freshman fifteen is not a disease. It is a period in teenagers’ life when they become more responsible about their health and eating habits. Statistics say that girls are more vulnerable to the weight gain. It is said that the weight gain is mainly from the severe lifestyle change with the lack of exercise, eating late, unhealthy snacks, and eating unhealthy cafeteria food. So far I have been doing all of these things. I am not on any type of diet so I eat anything. I have only been to the gym maybe five times. I am often eating pass ten o’clock at night. My snacks usually consist of chips, honey buns, candy, juices, and drinks. Now that I no longer have any flex bucks left, I have to eat cafeteria food. They often serve things that I do not eat, so I end up getting a burger and fries. Not only do I eat unhealthy cafeteria, but I usually only eat one or two meals a day. Another thing that deals with weight gain for college freshman is stress. Freshmen tend to be over taken by the work load of things that college has to offer. I was not surprised when I weighed myself this past Friday. So far I have not gained any weight this first semester and do not plan on gaining any weight next semester.

Next semester, I plan on making some major changes in my eating habits to prevent the expected weight gain for freshman. Since the freshman fifteen is now being replaced with twenty to twenty-five pounds weight gain. I will eat well balanced meals by following the food guide pyramid. I will drink less drinks and more water. Instead of eating burgers from the cafeteria, I will eat salads. I will eat more fruits and healthy snacks. Exercise is an important part of every healthy person’s life. I will go to the gym more and on a consistent basis. I will try to not eat any heavy foods after ten o’clock. I will eat more in proportions, watch my calorie intake, and eat less fast food. I refuse to gain any weight so I am determined to make changes quickly. It is so easy to eat unhealthy at college and if one does not pay attention to what they are eating, it will have an effect of gaining weight. I want to get these bad habits under control before I become a part of the statistics. It is only one month left in this semester, so after Christmas break will be the beginning of these changes. This will be a challenge for me to stay fit, even though I am not active. This will all be possible with common sense, self-control, and self-discipline.

Final Exams Preparation

The month of December will be the start of taking my final exams for all my classes. So far taking exams have not been my strong point, here at Middle Tennessee State University. With that been the situation, I have learned and is taking different approaches to take to help me on the exams. I have at least two more exams in each class to take before the final exams. I am currently studying every time I get a chance along with the two days I set aside to study chemistry and biology. My grades are now improving. I have one month to continue to bring up my grades until finals. In pre-calculus, I plan to try a different tutor and go to a different place on campus that offers tutoring. In biology, I plan on studying in a different environment and reviewing my notes when the information is fresh on my mind. In chemistry, I plan on going to a tutoring session and working out problems in the book. For both biology and chemistry lab, I plan on reviewing all labs and notes starting two weeks before the final. Taking these actions should help better prepare me for my final exams. Each time I study, I plan on going to the library or the study room in my dorm building. I will start these new tips starting this week. Being that all my exams are on the same day, I have to make sure that I do not try to cram when I study. I also have to make sure I get enough hours of sleep and maybe even a good breakfast. I will go to sleep by nine to get my full eight hours of sleep. The class that I have the most worries in is pre-calculus because I understand how to do the work, but the test problems are always harder than my review problems. Being that final exams are over the whole semester, would make the tests that much harder. I would like to make A’s on all of my final exams. Making all A’s on my final exams would make my first semester of college great. Being that my grades are not horrible grades, making A’s on my final exams would result in a B or A in my classes overall. Making A’s or B’s for my overall grade will result in a good first semester GPA. This would also make me more competitive to get into dental school. A good GPA would mean I would not have to make such a dramatic turn around with my grades second semester, but I would have more room for mistakes when the work starts to get harder for me. First semester see it as I am just getting my feet wet, but next semester I would have to jump all the way in because after that my classes will be focused more on my major. Overall I plan on and will be well prepared for final exams on December 14^th.

One Semester to the Next

There is only two months left in this semester. Come January, it will be the start of a new semester here at Middle Tennessee State University. This semester, I learned a lot about the school and myself. I learned my way around campus, I learned how to better manage my time, and I learned more about my strengths and weaknesses. It has been a long introduction to the college life. The transition from high school to college has been all what I heard it would be and more. I knew everything would not be as easy as high school, but I now have a better understanding of how hard things are. In the first semester, we basically reviewed things learned and taught in high school. I had a bad eating habit and barely worked out. My sleeping pattern is also off. I usually nap during the day for long hours. I tend to go to bed at two/ three in the morning and have to get up at seven a.m. for my eight o’clock class. For this reason, I am usually sleepy in class and it is hard for me to focus. I went home a lot this semester and have on been on campus for the weekend, three times. This semester over all has been a great first experience for me.

Next semester, I will use more of my resources. For each subject I need help in, I will attend the tutoring sessions offered here on campus. I will study more in the library than in my room. I will also study more on the weekend. I will make better grades on my exams and quizzes. My goal will be to make all A’s and B’s. I will review my notes prior to attending class and immediately following. I will read over the chapters in the book to get a better understanding as to what has been said in class. I will take a different approach to studying my notes to help retain the information that I will need to know for the exam. I will meet more people that are in my graduating class. I plan on eating at least two meals a day, one being breakfast, and eat less junk food. I will go to the gym every other week. I will go to sleep at decent time, around eleven/twelve. This way I can get enough hours of sleep in order to stay focused in class. So that I am able to go to sleep at this time, I will not take naps during the day. I would like to get more involved on campus to make my campus life experience even better. I will go to the campus theater, go to karaoke night, and participate in dorm activities. To help me on my chemistry and pre-calculus test, I will work out problems in the book. Next semester, I will go home less, only on breaks. I also plan on having my car by next semester. I plan on ending next semester better than the first.

Fall Break

My fall break started at 1 o’clock on October 14^th. My last class was biology lab. I rode back to Memphis with my friends Sherri, Symone, Saadia, and my cousin Tarinika. We made it to Memphis at 8 o’clock. Sherri dropped me off at home and my aunt picked me up soon afterwards. They were having a birthday dinner for all the people in the family with October birthdays. They had lots of different foods that I like. I ate good but I did not eat birthday cake. I stayed at her house for three hours. Sherri came back to get me and when went to her best friend house. When we got there we played a dance game on the xbox kinect. Later that night, we ate and I played with her dog, Peyton. The next day we woke up at 7 to travel three hours to Starkville. In Starkville, we went to a Mississippi State University football game. After the game we went to Sherri’s cousin apartment and ate dinner. We spent the night in Starkville and celebrated my birthday more. We had to be up the next morning at 6 in order to make it to church by 10. Along the way to church we had to drop off Sherri best friend, Essence and her cousin, Marcus. We made it to church in good timing. Once church was over, everyone spoke and gave us hugs because they had not seen us in a while. My uncle decided to treat me to dinner for my birthday. I chose to go to Chili’s because I love their chipotle chicken tenders. Some of my church members and friends from church decided to join me. We laughed, talked, and reminisced. Once everyone finished eating we all left and went our separate ways until next time. I went to Sherri’s house and took a much needed nap. When I woke up, we got ice-cream from Baskin Robins. My aunt picked me up from Sherri’s house and I spent the night at her house. I had to wake up early the next morning to go home. At home, I played with my nieces and watched television with them. Monday evening, I went to the Crepe’ Maker and the Collierville Mall with Sherri. Later that day, I went to a student conference with my sister. Afterwards, we went to the Southland Mall so that I could buy these boots that I have been wanting. I end up buying more than just those boots. We also went to the grocery store so that I could get a few snacks to take back to school. I spent the night over Sherri’s house because we would be back on the road to return to school Tuesday. I woke up at 12 on Tuesday and we got back on the road at 3. We stopped and got food before we picked up everyone. We picked up Symone and Saadia first and then Tarinika. After which, we got back on the road and made it to school at 7:30.

My Week at MT

Each week at Middle Tennessee State University is different for me. Every week I meet new people somewhere on campus. I usually eat from the cyber café, KUC, and McCallie. I hang out with friends at least two times a week and we always have a good laugh. I do not go to the library often, unless I want to print something for class. I am becoming pretty comfortable with my week.

One thing that does not change is my class schedule. I learn something new every day in each class. I usually travel the same route to class. Although, my classes never change weekly, the times I get out of them sometimes do. On Monday, I wake up at 7 o’clock because my day starts early with biology from 8 o’clock to 8:55. This class consists of straight note taking. Immediately after this class, I walk over to my next class in the Davis Science building for chemistry from 9:05 to 10:05. My professor in this class is usually a couple minutes late getting to class. He teaches via power point slides, which I print off to take additional notes on. After this class, I go back to my room to either nap or study until my last class. I have pre-calculus at 3 o’clock to 4:15 so I would leave the room at 2:30. On Tuesday, I get to wake up later at 10 o’clock. I have writing at 11:20 to 12:45. Being that it is my only class for that day, the rest of the day I would do homework and study for hours. On Wednesday, I have a busy day starting when I wake up at 7 o’clock for my 8 o’clock biology class. Then I go to chemistry at the same time. Once I leave there, I come back to the room until my chemistry lab at 11:30. In this class, I work with a lab partner to complete an experiment. The class last until 2:45 but, we get to leave once we finish the experiment so I usually leave an hour early. Being that pre-calculus is not until 3 o’clock; I would either eat or sit somewhere and study to kill time. On Thursday, my day goes exactly the same as my Tuesday. On Friday, my day starts bright an early at 7 o’clock. This day is much like Wednesday, instead I have biology lab and I do not get out early. This lab is more of a lecture than doing experiments. When I get out of pre-calculus at 4:15 on Friday, Middle Tennessee State University looks like ghost town because I could usually count the number people walking. I would usually complete any homework that I have or study for the rest of the day. On Saturday and Sunday, the time I wake up varies. If I have upcoming test, I would study some more. Sometimes it seem like the week goes by so slow and sometimes it seems like it flies by.

What To Eat?

Middle Tennessee State University has four different eating locations, here on campus. All located in different sections of the campus. Each eating place is different, yet the same in different ways. At each place, food can be purchased using your flex bucks, money from the students’ meal plan. The cyber café hours are 8am-2am on the week days and 8am-8pm on the weekend. The cyber is like a mini market. They sale: medicine, big bags of chips, boxes of cakes, candy, and a variety of drinks. They also have a subway and a pizza place called tapio’s. It is cheaper if you purchase these things using flex bucks. The main eating place is the KUC. The KUC hours are 8am-8pm on the week days and closed on the weekend.  It has seven eating places within it. It has Einstein bros., chick-fil-a, pizza hut, burger studio, home zone, subway, and a Chinese restaurant. The only restaurants I have eaten at in here are pizza hut, subway, and chick-fil-a. Two out of the four eating places are all you can eat cafeterias. One is the JUB and one is McCallie. Both the JUB and McCallie hours are 7am-9:30pm on the week days and 7am-7pm on the weekends. They both have a variety of foods, ranging from soul food to burgers and fries. They also have certain days where they will have a certain food such as fried chicken Wednesdays. Regardless of what day it is, they always have pizza. The JUB and McCallie both serve breakfast until 11:30am. Each eating place has big sitting areas for students to sit and enjoy their meals.

There are many restaurants in the surrounding area that delivers to Middle Tennessee State University. There are dominoes, papa john’s, and wing zone. They will all deliver until 2am on the week days. Papa John’s pizza allows students to use their flex bucks to purchase their food, if they do it online. Wing zone not only sale wings but they have shrimps, burgers, chicken tenders, and fries. There are three main foods a Middle Tennessee State University student can count on: pizza, subway, and burgers. So far, I cannot even count the number of times, I have had these foods. When I am tired of subway, I get pizza. When I am tired of pizza, I get a burger. Maybe two out of seven days, I do not have one of these three foods.  Although, there are numerous different eating places on campus I have a bad eating habit. I usually eat one meal a day and junk food. If I eat twice a day, the second meal is usually late at night around 11pm. I have only had breakfast once since I have been here. That one time I had breakfast, I did not enjoy it so I would not be eating it again. I have only eaten one salad since I have been here. With this eating at the rate it is, I must work on changing it.  

First Three Weeks

I have now been in college for three weeks and today mark the beginning of fourth. During the first week, I received a syllabus from every professor. They explained in detail what we would be doing each week, when would exams and quizzes be, how and when to contact them, and what would and would not be accepted. Within the first week, I was able to tell that my professors were not as difficult as others. I also met new people, which I have been hanging out with every week. I now not only know my way around, but I have learned some convenient short cuts. I barely had any homework the first week.

The second week came rather fast. Although, it felt like I had been in school for a month. I now had homework to do. I now knew my schedule by heart. I became content with the way I would take notes. I realized the classes that would take more studying than others. I was now in the habit of checking my e-mail and my d2L often.  I had a routine of going to class at least five minutes early. This week was the first time I did my laundry. I was not homesick but I missed the idea of being home.

The third week was an eye opener for me. I had more things that were due, some even on the same day. I had to buckle down on my studying and the use of my time management. The beginning of the week, I began to study for a biology lab exam that I would take that Friday. Monday I also learned that I would have a biology and chemistry exam. Came Tuesday, I began to format the way I would study. This did not include hanging out as much. My college experience had now become intense and nerve racking. On top of studying for biology lab, biology, and chemistry exams; I still had homework in my other classes. By Friday, I was well prepared for my biology exam. I think that I will get a passing grade on it. But my week was not over; I now had to continue to study for my other exams on the weekend.

Since I have been here, I have been home every weekend except for one. The one weekend I was here, I stayed up all night and slept all day. The weekend before taking my Monday exams, I went home. I did not have a productive study time. These three weeks has allowed me to put everything into perspective. I now know what approach to take to be better prepared for my exams. This fourth week will be the start of me using new study and time management techniques. Another thing I have to change is my sleeping patterns. I tend to go to sleep at one or two a.m. and have to be up at eight. I would now go to sleep no later than one and/or if I am, I would at least study.