Ending of an Era

Tomorrow I will attend the last class of my under graduate college career.  I've lately been reviewing my college career and I'm trying to pin point some of the things that I've done well in college and some things that maybe I should have worked harder at.

As far as my major... I could not be any happier.  I am so thankful that I decided to be apart of the college of business.  I have met a lot of excellent professors and I've overall had a very positive experience from BG.  I am very happy that I decided to double major.  I feel like I've gained so much from both of my majors.  I honestly believe that supply chain management was the right choice as a profession for me.  I think that it fits my personality very well, and it comes easy to me.  But I'm also equally pleased that I decided to double major in finance.  Finance did not come as naturally to me as supply chain and it was a lot of hard work, but in the end I think some of the knowledge and basic finance principles that I understand now will help me a lot later in life.

I am very proud that I went to the job fair as a freshman and decided that I needed extra practice interviewing. It led to one of the most monumental events that happened in my life which was getting an internship with Sea World and moving down to Orlando for the summer.  Before then I had never lived on my own without anyone else there to support me.  I had never forced myself to make new friends and make my own dinners at night.  That experience was a life changer.  I not only developed my complete and utter love of Orlando, but I learned a lot about myself and what I was capable of.  Without that confidence I don't think that I could have studied abroad, or had the guts to sign up for a random traveling group across Europe.

I'm very glad that I worked really hard in different student organizations on campus.  I think I learned alot from these organizations, and I think it is a factor that helped me become employable.  I am very thankful that I was able to get my top job choice once I graduated.  It feels so nice to have that security that alot of people don't have.  I feel like I made good choices to help develop my leadership skills.

As I look back I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to study abroad. It was an experience of a life time and I realize just how few people get to have some of the amazing experiences that I had. Studying abroad was a risk and it was a lot of work, but I am so glad that I did it.  It really makes me believe that a person can make any opportunity that they want for themselves if they have the drive and patience to get it.

I think that my coop at Bendix was exactly where I should have been.  I learned a lot from Bendix, and it was a good fit for my life at that time.  I'm glad that I was able to spend some time at home after traveling so much.  I'm glad that I decided it was time for me to find a boyfriend during that time.  And I'm also glad that Cody wasn't the first person that I started to date.  I think that I needed a bad relationship... one that taught me not to jump into something too fast.  I think that helped me grow and treat my relationship with Cody different... which so far has worked.

Now looking at some things I wished that I could have done a little bit differently.  The big factor is that I wish that I had made more friends while I was at college.

I had originally intended on joining the business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi, and I had gone through almost the whole pledging process, and about a week before it was time to pledge I decided that it wasn't for me.  I've wondered more than once if I made the right decision in not joining DSP.  At the point in my life that I tried to join, I was way too busy and I was stretched thin.  I literally had to plan out times in my schedule during the day to eat, or take a shower.  I had no free time because of other organization commitments.  I didn't really realize that in later semesters I wouldn't be so busy and that maybe I would be able to manage it better.  I'm still not 100% sure if not joining was the right decision, but at the same time it was a pivotal choice that I made and that is something I just have to accept going forward.

I've recently realized that I didn't make too many friendships during college, and I've been pondering why this is..  I lived with Hannah for my first two years in college and I guess I didn't really need to make new friends, but still I did make some friends those years.  It just seems like I lost contact with people.  I think a lot of my friends ending up transferring or moving into a new dorm and I never saw them.  I also have a lot of people that I know and that I'm friendly with in class... or school friends, but I never took the steps to develop relationships with them outside of class.  This is something that I'm going to have to work hard on going forward.  I've always taken responsibilities too literally, and I've always been a hard worker... but not really a socializer.  It's hard for me to accept that maybe this wasn't the best approach to things since I have been fairly successful due to my hard work attitude.  But I really need to find a balance.  It's something that I suppose I've always had an issue with.  I remember back in 4th grade there was a math computer game that I liked to play, but there were only two computers.  The first two people done with their work got to play.  So everyday I would quickly do my work while everyone else was talking and goofing off... and everyday I got to play the computer game, but I didn't have friends to play with at recess, and I guess I'm only just now starting to make the connection.  Even when I was playing sports, I was too focused on getting better and working hard that I never stopped to make friends... and this is something that I carried forward with me.  I guess it just took me a long time to realize that being so driven might not be the best thing.  I work really hard towards goals, but I think I didn't necessarily have the right goals at the time and I didn't realize it.  My lack of friends upon graduating college has really driven this point home to me.
Next I wish that I would have cared more about my GPA in the beginning of college.  I started college really strong, but it seems like towards my last finals in my freshman year I had done so well in the class that I thought the tests were really easy so I didn't study much.  It wasn't after I took my final tests that I realized that the tests were only easy before because I had studied hard.  Because of that I got B's in a lot of classes I really should have gotten A's in.  This disappoints me a little looking back on it.  I haven't done poorly by any means, but I think I could have done better which disappoints me a little bit.

There were numerous times when I considered not posting this blog, or making it private or something so that only I could read it.  But then I started thinking about it and overall, I'm very pleased and proud of my college experience.  I think that I made a lot of opportunities for myself during college and I'm very happy with that.  I made a bunch of good decisions, and I'm pleased with where my life is heading.  But I also need to learn from the past and figure out ways to change a little bit going forward.  I was really upset about the lack of friends earlier today, but the way I've always handled any issues I've faced is that its alright to be sad and upset about it for a while, but then after that it's time to make an action plan to fix it.  And now that I realize that it is an issue, I feel like I will be able to do better in the future.