How College Has Impacted Me Essay Example

Despite being a mother and a wife I’m able to juggle between college, family and having a part-time job. My first semester in college was unlike anything I had expected, and that scared me especially because I came from a humble background. My brothers had had the privilege to go to college and when I informed my parents of my decision to join college they were surprised at first but later came to accept my decision. Besides, who said a woman can’t do it all? I got to meet people from all walks of life in college, but I was a little shy in socializing and making new friends. As a freshman in college, I also had financial problems and was not sure how to ask for help. It wasn’t until being a mother, going to work and being a student got overwhelming that I knew I had to ask for help, besides, a closed mouth does not get fed. ("A Closed Mouth Doesn't Get Fed").

I got to make new friends, and even then it was hard to understand other students because of their accents and cultural backgrounds. The only common thing that brought us all together was when the professor was explaining on how nursing has transformed many lives and how we as students would end up saving lives. Long-term care patients needed us to be patient and treat them with respect despite the colour of their skin, their culture or ethnicity. The professor taught us that to succeed in the nursing field we had to lean on each other. He always said “name for me an inspirational man who did it all by

himself without leaning on the community? “That is when I told myself, who am I to do it by myself? And what is the harm in helping one another while helping the community? That gave me a new perspective on my classmates plus whoever said a man is not an island, was right. I needed my husband, my baby and my friends to see me through my new chapter in college. (Donne and Fallon).

The new relationships I made in class came in handy in my social life, and I got to build better friends and discovered more interesting things about my friends. I also got to discover my talent in baseball and surprisingly, I am a natural at it. Wow! I was excellent at basketball. Who knew? During the weekends, I would go to work and once I was done and had extra time on my hands, I would proceed to catch up with a few friends whom we’d become so close and advice each other on other aspects of life.Time keeping is my forte, and so I never wasted any free time. I also learn that there is more to college than sitting in a classroom and listening to lectures. Life lessons are learnt through association with friends and learning to be open-minded about various aspect of life. I learned to be more responsible as a young woman in the society. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but in my case, it took more than a village. (Clinton).

It is until I got to college that I learnt more about myself, my family and more about other cultures and the people

who make up a community. I learned to ask for help as well as putting more effort into my studies. I’ve also learnt to manage time well between my family, my work and my studies. My major in college was also eye-opening on diversity in the healthcare and nursing industry. I am a braver, brighter and smarter person today in comparison to who I was a few months ago. I have learnt to be more patient with my daughter, my husband and family. My sisters and other girls from the village look up to me as they want to learn and show the society that a girl can do more than cooking, doing laundry and playing wife. The journey to a better life has just began for me and I know I have more to learn but so far, college is the place every girl should aim to be.

Work Cited

1. "A Closed Mouth Doesn't Get Fed". Urban Dictionary. N.p., 2016. Web. 18 May 2016.
2. Clinton, Hillary Rodham. It Takes A Village. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Print.
3. Donne, John and Keith Fallon. No Man Is An Island. Los Angeles: Stanyan Books, 1970. Print.
4. Rizvi,, Syed Muhammad. "Inspirational Quotes: Who Was The First To Say "Knowledge Is Power"?".Quora.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 18 May 2016.
5. Wong, Jade Snow. Fifth Chinese Daughter. New York: Harper, 1950. Print.