College can be difficult. Is it as difficult as travelling to Mordor? You can be the judge of that.
1. Going Off to College
We all experienced our own unique moments of excitement when we first headed off to college. We were finally free from our parents’ rules, curfews and were fully ready to embrace the independence that comes along with moving out. However, did we really know what awaited us?
2. Feeding Ourselves
Being an upperclassman is great except for the fact most of us have to live off campus. This new living situation means having to go grocery shopping, and actually cooking for ourselves. Some of us often ask ourselves whether or not it is appropriate to eat Taco Bell three days in a row. It is cheap after all and it is better than going hungry.
3. Choosing a Major
We eventually have to pick a major, which can be extremely difficult, not to mention life altering. It doesn’t help that everyone makes it seem so simple. Our professors and advisors just tell us to choose something we are passionate about. It is really a shame we can’t major in napping for the next four years. Who is to say our liberal arts degrees will be much more useful?
4. Getting Bad Grades
We have all worked incredibly hard on an assignment and still received a bad grade. We pay attention and study, but we just can not measure up to the professor’s expectations. Some professors can be harder graders than others and sometimes it can even feel like our professors want us to fail. What more can we really do?
5. Letting Work Pile Up
We all feel overwhelmed at times. No matter the major or focus, work seems to find a way to pile up every now and then. All of the big projects and exams are usually due at the same time. Our professors tend to assign 300 pages of reading, two class presentations, a critical essay and a huge exam – all during the same week. As college students, we like to stay in denial of all this work until as close to the deadline as possible. If we do not think about all of the work we have to do, it does not exist, right?
6. Having an internship
In today’s job market it is a necessity to have at least one internship before we grauduate. There is a certain amount of pressure placed upon this, and yet, we only have so much responsibility at these internships. We are still college students. We do not possess all of the skills necessary to complete tasks that will be demanded of us in the real world. So, we sit back at our internships and try to prove ourselves useful by doing what we can, while also trying to learn a thing or two without getting in the way.
7. Passing exams
When the spring semester is finally over and we’ve passed all of our exams, we can take a breath for at least a moment before we have to worry about getting a summer job or internship. Honestly, if you haven’t applied for these things while the semester was going on, you’re probably out of luck so you might as well just enjoy your summer anyway.