Undergraduate /
College expectations, before attending it [4]
hey! so i have this Summer assignment from my college which i haven't attend at all (because I'm just about to attend the freshmen year next month). actually it's not a tough essay but for me it's kinda tough due to personal experience and point of view. please kindly give me some feedbacks. thanks!
question:
What expectations do you have about Trinity Christian College? How do you hope to be challenge in those expectations?Going to college should be something I love. This means a total freedom. Free from parents guidance 24/7, living on my own, got to decide what to do and not to do, also have a full control of myself. Honestly, I was truly excited back then. Until I realize how hard are the TOEFL and SAT tests and I started to doubt myself. Can I actually survive there? Or am I going to fail and go home with nothing? All the worries started to crept to my mind and scare me to death. The first thing that came to my mind when it comes to expectations is, survive. Having fun is number two.
Before I graduate from high school, I wasn't really sure about what to expect in college. It's because that I didn't really experience a lot of things in it. I was thinking that probably college would be the same as the former high school life, average with no special things happened. Before, I was in the same school from I was a baby until I graduate, so I never had some extreme things happening. I never try to socialize to new culture, adapt to new people, etc. I was staying in my comfort zone. And now, the fact that I'm going abroad is a huge challenge for me. I'm going to feel new culture, new weather, new people, and new experience. It doesn't mean that this is going to be easy. Adapting to new country and to new way of studying at the same time is a big deal.
And it made me start to think about my broader college expectations, on what I hope to experience, more than surviving. I wish to experience diverse things in college, in all aspects. The things that I have never experience before, and will never again after. Experiencing different things in college doesn't mean that I will forget about studying and focusing on activities. Surviving is still the number one hope. I just want to have great memories about college. Some of my friends take the acceleration class to graduate faster, but I don't. College is going to be great times, I expect. I want to have a taste on all the interesting dorm activities, tons of dramas, and some parties. But I really hope for good grades and doing well in projects. I want to feel the good and the bad. I want the sweet and sour. Every single bit of it. I want to make the most of my college. Living my college to the fullest.
But, something happened to me after I read the chapter 'Wide-Eyed' in the book 'Learning for the Love of God'. I was thinking living my college life to the fullest would be the best thing I will get, but actually it is not. It was all nothing. Jesus should matter above every other thing, that's what Opitz and Melleby said in their book. And somehow suddenly my expectations take a turn from its origin purpose. It slides a little bit, into something like this. I want to experience all things mentioned before, in order to shape myself into a better person each day. To figure out what He wants from me. To be transformed, into what God has called me to be. I hope to be challenged to manage and control myself, to do what is right, to not compromising sins. And I hope all of it will lead me into the real purpose, to be transformed.
that's all, please kindly give me some critiques and suggestions, thanks so much!!