Johnston - Introduction

When I first walked into my dorm room I thought, 'Wow, this room is much smaller than my room at home, and I'm going to have to share it with another human being. Are my roommate and I going to get along? How was I going to share a bathroom with 40 other girls?' I'll admit, I was a little hesitant coming in. Coming from North Carolina, out in the country, I experienced slight culture shock when I first arrived. The city of New Orleans is unlike any other that I have been to. In New Orleans, there are always people moving, always music playing, never a dull moment. The first night my roommate and I, and some of our hall mates, decided to take a walk to uptown. On our way back we decided to stop at the infamous Taco Truck. I was a little skeptical at first, I mean, when I was little my parents taught me never to take food from people in a van. After the first bite though, I was thoroughly surprised. Taco Truck: A+.
Now that classes have started, I have realized how useful good time management skills are. After the first day of classes I already had three assignments, including two papers. As much as I want to go out and explore the city every night, I know that in order to have the grades that I want I will need to prioritize. In high school, I had every class almost every day, and here I only have a certain class every other day or even only once a week. This spacing of classes allows me finish an assignment more thoroughly than I would if I had the class every single day. Everyone says that college is the best time of your life, and I'm excited to immerse myself into everything that Loyola has to offer. In the few short days that I have been at Loyola, I have learned many new things about myself and about the world around me. I’ve learned that there is more to the world that the small town I grew up in. I've learned that in order to succeed that I need to be able to manage my time in a way that maximizes my success and minimizes my stress. Most of all, I have learned to go into every experience with an open mind, even if it is a taco from a van.