# What Have You Learned?

Being so close to the end of freshmen year of college, I have learned a lot. I feel like I have learned a lot about myself personally. However, I still feel a bit lost educationally; by this I mean I still am very unsure of what I want to do as a career. Living in a new environment for a school year without anyone familiar to me has taught me to be more independent, realize the importance of motivation, and that you should not be afraid to take risks.My first year away at college was harder than I had expected it to be, socially and academically. 

I grew up in a state of familiarity and comfort that was stronger than what I was aware of at the time. I have had the same core group of friends since elementary school, and have always had my family by my side. Moving from St. Louis to Kansas City was exciting to me because not only do I love Kansas City, but it was a chance to get away from the norm that I have been so accustomed to. However, this proved to be a bigger challenge than I had expected.

Not knowing anyone here at UMKC really pushed me out of my comfort zone. One thing I learned about myself was that I initially am very shy around people I do not know. Compared to being around my friends I have had by my side forever, and being in a new place with new faces I had a complete different personality, which is something I did not expect of myself, it just sort of happened. This made me realize I need to be okay with putting myself out there without any familiar comfort by my side. By doing this it led me to meet people I would never think I would get along with. I learned you cannot truly initially judge people because you may surprise yourself and have things in common with someone you would never expect. 

Academically, I learned how important motivation is. In high school I did not have a lot of motivation. Coming to UMKC, I got a job, and balancing school and work was something new to me because I normally only have a job in the summer. Not playing sports or having any extracurricular activities was also something new to me with school. In addition to this, I came into my first year of school unsure what to do as a major and enrolled in Ucollege, which is a program designed to help you find a right fit for yourself. Going into the program I was optimistic, however going through it made me wish I would have just settled on a major to begin with and then figured it out from there. I feel like I took a lot of prerequisite classes that I am still not even sure what I will do with because my major is still undeclared. 

All of this was very stressful and not having any of the people I have always had by my side to help me through it made me realize I had to really motivate myself. It was a struggle to do work that I felt was getting me nowhere, but I now know how important it is to have motivation to do well and be successful.

Before coming to UMKC, I wish I would have had a better idea of what I wanted to do as a career. I also wish I would have had more confidence to put myself out there and not stay in my comfort zone so much. However, I have learned from these things and now know that in order to better my life I need to be sure of myself, and work harder to succeed in the future.