Life Lesson Number Four: Don't Be Afraid To Ask For Help

It seems pretty self explanatory, when you're confused or uncertain about something you should ask for help.  I mean what do you really have to lose?  In middle school and high school this was a pretty simple task.  After all, you knew all your classmates and teachers.  Then you get to college and all that changes.  No longer are you surrounded by your best friends, nor does the professor know your name half the time.  So in college when you need help, you have to step out of your comfort zone and open your mouth.

When I first arrived at Penn State, I found myself asking for help often.  Some of my questions were: Which way does which bus go?  How do I even work the buses?  What is the difference between Lion Cash and meal points?  Can I put colored clothes in with white clothes or will all my white clothes turn different colors?  Do you know where the Walker Building is?  As silly as these question sound, I would have never learned how to take the bus or separate my clothes before I washed them. Also, I probably would of thought that Lion Cash and meal points were the same thing.  All of this would not have occurred if I didn't ask for help.

These were the little things in life that caused minor dilemmas and were pretty simple to ask for help about.  As we have all learned pretty fast, college happens to be much harder than middle school.  I remember sitting in freshmen orientation and our leader explaining  how our high school GPA would be nothing like our college one.  She then explained that a 3.0 in college was good and my jaw dropped.  She was right.  The point is that the classes in college are challenging.  So when you don't fully understand a topic, first read the book, then if the book can't answer your questions, ask for help.

We all have that one class each semester that no matter how hard we try, our best just isn't good enough.  This happened to me last semester with my Political Science class.  I went to every single class and read the book, but at the end of the day I just couldn't grasp the material.  When it came time to complete our third homework assignment, I happened to get a 32 percent.  This was a major problem and I found myself in tears.  The saddest part was that I had to get this grade to realize that maybe I needed help.  So, I sent the TA an email, met with her in office hours and I can say that after asking for her help I became an expert on game theory (I don't recommend trying to learn how to solve games for fun, because they are not fun).  Anyway, it only took a quick email and a half hour session for me to learn the material, all because I asked for help.  This semester when I truly don't understand a concept, I don't wait till I fail a homework assignment to go into office hours, I just go right away. After all, TA's and professors are there to help you, they're human after all you know.

It may seem scary at first, being in a new place and asking strangers for help, but that's life.  In college what suffers is your GPA when it comes to grades.  Asking for help doesn't make you stupid, the reality is that it can only benefit you.  So the next time your confused or lost looking for a building around Penn State, don't be afraid to ask for help, you really have nothing to lose.




Link Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/Help_poster.jpg

Life Lesson Number Three: Appreciate Family

For eighteen years of our life, they are there every step of the way. They are there for our best days and worst days. They are there as we take our first steps and go on our first dates.  Then one day, they drop us off in a strange place, say their goodbyes and you are forced to fend for yourself in this big scary world.  If you haven't figured it out by now, I happen to be talking about family, in particularly the ones who raised us.  Whether it was your Mom, Dad, aunt, uncle or grandparents, we all must admit that we wouldn't be where we are today without them.

Growing up, I was lucky to have both my parents there to support and guide me through all the ups and downs.  When I got to college, I quickly realized that my parents had been my best friends all along.   I never thought that I would miss them nagging me about doing chores around the house (which I never ended up doing).  I never really appreciated their home cooked meals every night or their questions about how my day was until I had to eat the food from the dining hall. The bottom line was until I got to college, I never realized how much my parents did for me, until I had to do it all by myself.

College is extremely overwhelming at first as many of us probably experienced, but what's even more overwhelming is the cost.  One day while I was sitting in my Political Science class, I decided to find out how much money that class cost.  Let me remind you that I am an out-of-state student, so after punching in a few numbers on my calculator, I was flabbergasted to find out how much I was paying for just one class.  All I could think of was the fact that my parents were spending ample amounts of money just so I could get a higher education.  That day, I sat there and thought about how all the money they were spending on my brother's and my education could go to so many other things, like a house or a new decked out sports car. Instead they put it towards us.  If it wasn't for my parents, I wouldn't even be able to afford this place on my own nor would I be at this university.  The truth is I wouldn't even be writing this blog post because I wouldn't be in this class if it wasn't for their financial support.  So appreciate the money that your loved ones put forth so that you can have a higher education, after all this institution costs a lot of zeros.

College also gives us a lot of time to reflect.  For the first times in our lives, we aren't under the guidance of our loved ones.  It's all now up to us. Think about what all our loved ones have taught us; the rights from the wrongs.  Think about all the experiences they have given us up to this point.  Think about all the values they have instilled in us and the life lessons we have learned through them.  I know that if it wasn't for my parents, I never would of been able to travel the world, play on the best softball team in the state that was based two hours from my house or learn to speak what I believed in regardless of what anyone thought.  I never would of valued Pizza Friday, or enjoyed our political debates at the dinner table. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be me.


So, college has made me appreciate our weekly FaceTime calls, the care packages they send me, their daily texts and the time that I am able to spend with them when I'm home.  The truth is I miss my parents everyday, yet I know that they want me to be the best I can be and getting an education at Penn State will help me accomplish that.  I want you to stop for a second and take out your cell phone and do the following.  Send a quick text to the ones that got you to this point and tell them that you love and miss them.  After all, you probably wouldn't be at this university without them and their guidance and it will only take a few seconds!

Life Lesson Number Two: Sleep

Everyone needs sleep.

As I sit here in the HUB at 11:45 pm on this fine Tuesday night, I find myself thinking about one thing and one thing only, my bed.  I truly can't wait to jump into bed in about an hour.  As I mentioned in my last blog post, it's essential to be two steps ahead of the game, so that on the due date of an assignment, you aren't frantically cramming and have time to sleep that night.

College has taught me a few things about sleep. The very first and most important is that you need to appreciate every single second that your head touches your pillow.  Second, there are no screaming parents telling you when it's bed time, so it's up to you to figure out your own sleeping schedule.  Now you must decide whether you should stay up till three in the morning to work on a paper, study or watch a couple episodes of Netflix.  The choice is yours and really could be detrimental to your well being the next day. Third, your body needs sleep and without it you become cranky, delirious and just not yourself.

I want you to stop and think for a minute.  How many hours of sleep did you get last night?  I highly doubt you got the 7 to 9 hours of sleep that the National Sleep Foundation  recommends for those that are ages 18-25.   As a matter of fact, I got about six hours of sleep last night.  I'll admit that sometimes it's nearly impossible to get the recommended hours. Yet, what many fail to realize is that lack of sleep affects our health tremendously.  As reported by Harvard University, there have been studies that link obesity to lack of sleep.  My theory about lack of sleep and obesity is that the longer you stay up, the more likely you are to snack and the more you snack (my late night snacks usually aren't that healthy aka Doritos and Oreos) the more weight you could possibly gain.  We must take into consideration that there are other factors that influence weight gain, however Harvard University has also reported that lack of sleep leads to problems with cardiovascular disease, immune infections, diabetes and even the common cold.  Sleep is not only essential for overall health, but academic success as well.

Think about all the times you've been in class or a lecture hall and everything the professor is saying is a blur because you're just too tired to even begin to comprehend.  This I will admit happens to me more frequently than it should.  Research done by the University of Michigan claims that about seventy-five percent of their students don't get enough sleep. To make up for this sleep deprivation, the university found research that napping for a half hour or forty minutes a day could help academic performance.

By now, you probably understand the point that I am trying to get across; we all need sleep.  So it isn't the smart thing to pull all-nighters.  As I said before, some nights it's hard to get the seven to nine hours of sleep but you need it, so make time for it.

Lastly, coming into college I feared that I wasn't going to be able to sleep well in a new bed, let alone a new place.  The photograph above is one of my lovely bed and though I do miss my queen size bed at home, I'll admit that I sleep pretty fantastically on my little twin bed here at Penn State.  However, I would recommend a mattress topper.  Mine is about two inches thick and really makes a world of difference.  After all, I think college has made me realize that sleep is my favorite past time.  It's late now and I should probably get some sleep and so should you tonight.