Jerrid's Autobiography

Anxiety

Hi, my name is Jerrid Neeley. To sum myself up and detail my feelings about entering college in a few short paragraphs will be extremely difficult. So I'll start from the beginning.
May 29th 1990 in Somerset, KY, an 11-pound baby boy was born. Yep, that would be me. Today I weigh a little bit more, about 150 pounds more to be exact. I'm the valedictorian of my class of 187, I'm going to play tennis at the University of the Cumberlands, and I never get embarrassed. Those 3 things pretty much some up my life.

I guess I'm pretty smart, but I work really hard at everything. If you ever need to get in touch with me, I will probably be around a tennis court or will be somewhere studying. I'll do anything to give someone a laugh or to bring a smile to someone’s face. So if you see some guy doing something stupid, that’s probably me. I've made about a million mistakes, but I don't regret any of them, because I always learn from them.

My emotions about college are very... uh... broad to say the least. I'm ready for my mom to finally loosen her grip on the leash, but I don't want to leave all my high school friends. So, in one word, I'm feeling anxious. Ready, yet nervous. Being anxious has really messed up my summer because I don't know what to do half the time. That’s about it, but if you ever see me, just run up and start talking. I am sure we will be friends.

Over the last few days the weather has cooled down, the leaves are falling, and mid-terms are over. All of this is a huge relief to me, especially that mid-terms are over. I’m not liking the cold to much right now, but other than that, college is still amazing.

Fall break was last week and it was a great time to rest and relax after a few hard days of tests. Friday I went to the Clay County football game and visited some of my old friends, but other than that my fall break was filled with me sleeping and resting up, except for the little tennis that I played. After staying up late the first month or so, I am beginning to realize that sleep is very important and I’m doing a lot of it.

We have our last tennis tournament this weekend and then we are done for the winter. As much as I love tennis and all the tournaments, I am going to be a little glad for it to finally be over so that I can explore some of the different dimensions of college.

This week’s advice is going to be a simple one. Whenever you get to college you will probably get homesick. I’ve not really got homesick yet but it is a very real possibility that a lot of freshmen are. The best way to deal with this is probably to stay in touch with your hometown friends, but also to expand. By staying busy and meeting new people, it will help you to cope with your homesickness. Of course, call the parents, because they are the ones that are probably paying some for your college. Not only that, you probably will want some extra spending money sometimes and you don’t want to just call and visit them just for money, so set yourself up. I just hope my parents aren’t reading this.. Oh well, till next time.

So here we are, already in October. The weather is changing, the leaves are falling, and apparently that means that mid-terms are right around the corner. The bustle of campus life has yet to slow down and classes are in full swing. Everything has pretty much stayed the same so I’ll explore one of the different aspects of what I experienced just a few days ago.

College is always full of new experiences. No matter who you are, where you are from, and what you’ve done, college will have something new for you. Just the other day I watched women’s wrestling. When you actually think about it, it doesn’t sound like it would be as fun to watch as the classic American football or basketball games. When I walked into the gym I expected to stay a very long 20 minutes and then leave out of boredom. All that needs to be said is that I was speechless and I stayed for over an hour. Although to most people you would think that this is just a very small thing and means nothing. However, college is all about expanding your horizons. If you come into college with a closed mind, you’ll get nowhere. You have to keep an open mind to observe and take in everything around you.Don’t let preprogrammed responses and ideas dictate what you do. You are your own person and in college you get the opportunity to discover yourself and strengthen your beliefs, but also to find out new ideas.

Fall break just happens to be next week where I will visit some of my old high school friends and relax from the always busy world of college, but first I have to get through mid-terms… It doesn’t seem like I am already halfway done with my first set of classes for my freshman year. Keeping track of time is difficult and it has become harder to juggle tennis, school, and socializing as the teachers crack down for midterms. But hey, that’s the fun of college.

So this blog comes to an end too, much as the summer season has passed. My advice this week is going to be to try new things. Even though some of my other blogs contained similar things, I want to reinforce this. As I have said before, keep an open mind, and be ready to try new things. Until next time.

It actually just seems like yesterday that I wrote my last blog. I hope that those of you that are reading this are doing as well and are having as much fun as I am. As of now, only one new thing has happened to me, so I’ll use this blog as more of an update than an introduction to new things.

So everything is going good down here. I actually just came in last night from my first tennis tournament that was down in Tennessee. I had a really great time. On this same note though, we got back in at 10pm  and I had to read part of a book before my English class today. Before I could do that though, I had to visit one of my friends from my calculus class to talk to him about our test tomorrow. Throw in a shower and socializing time, this left me going to sleep a little late. My body has adjusted to this, but I am starting to fall into the trend, as most freshmen do, of spreading myself too thin.

Convocation is one of the more… interesting points on everyone’s schedule. By what I have seen over the past several weeks, convocation is a once a week meeting that encompasses a different point. In some sense, it could be called a melting pot. After a long and tiring start to my day, it cheered me up to get a hug from one of the Korean Children’s Choir members visiting our campus.

Classes are going well. I’ve kind of settled into a rhythm and I know my classes well enough to know how much I have to work and study. Tennis is going great and campus activities are starting to buzz. So, this week I have 3 points of advice. 1. DON’T OVER EXTEND YOURSELF. Spreading yourself too thin will not allow you to excel at anything and will leave your body just plain tired. 2. Stay in a dorm if possible. Dorm life makes up the heart and soul of college life. It puts you in the vicinity and allows you to explore campus whenever you feel like it. However, it does make you do some laundry… 3. Play a sport. Whether it is intercollegiate or intramural, try and pick up something. Sports are a great way to have fun, meet new people, and relax. That’s it for this installment. Till next time, peace out.

Since this is officially my first blog since actually being at Cumberlands, I have a lot to talk about. College itself is different than anything I could ever have imagined. The atmosphere, the people, the classes, and pretty much everything has changed from what I was accustomed to. However, every bit of it is amazing.

When I was a freshman in high school, I always wanted to go to a big state school. Even before I came up here I began to have second thoughts about choosing Cumberland. All of my close high school friends and Governor’s Scholar friends were headed to U.K. and I was going to Cumberland. So, naturally when I first arrived, I felt alone. I knew pretty much one person, my roommate. I talked to a few people before I actually arrived and someone told me, “College is a fresh start. No one knows you or your past so you have a clean start.” Keeping this in mind I tried to be optimistic, because even though I would say that I am a fairly social person, I began to wonder if I would actually make new friends in a different atmosphere. First thing I noticed when I arrived was how friendly everyone was. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve met a number of amazing people, some that I am probably even closer to than some of my high school friends.

I didn’t really know what to think about classes at first. I was intimidated and for the first time I actually had to work outside  of class.  At first, this took some getting used to. Juggling class, tennis, studying, and social time is hard. However, as long as you stay ahead and work hard, you have more than enough time to study and then go have fun and hang out. For me, tennis is one of the most fun things that I do in a day. Meeting and bonding with people on the team is probably my favorite part of the day.

I consider myself a food expert. I like to eat, and I like to eat a lot. The food up here is great. This is a very short paragraph, but the idea is important. Cumberland=good food.

Probably the biggest difference between Cumberland and a big state school is the teachers. I’ve only been here for 2 weeks, but all the teachers seem to care and are accessible. In a state school, it is hard to find help from your teachers. Here at Cumberland they encourage you to seek them for help. This is definitely a huge advantage and I feel confident that if I ever need anything, most of them would do anything they could to help me.

At the end of each of my blogs, I am going to post advice that I have learned so far so that your college experience can be as good as or better than mine. First off, you have a clean slate, which means that you can make the image you want for yourself. Use that to your advantage. Secondly, be social but be yourself. Thirdly, make sure that your priorities are in order and you know what you want to do with you time. Finally, go to Cumberland. I wouldn’t be happy anywhere else.

As I walked into the room, I noticed the one kid, two parent trend developing at tables. I kept quiet for a while, waiting for the separation with my parents. Then it happens. Ahhh, yes. With the help of some of the STARS , the feeling of tension slips from my muscles. Now I can truly enjoy the orientation. Orientation in one word was amazing. There was only one thing that I didn't like. All the people I met and the new friends I made, I won't see for another 2 months. Why have orientations so far ahead? However, I did get to meet one of the greatest people ever. She's going to clean my room for me. Just kidding Kelli. The highlight of the orientation itself, excluding the people, was the Cumberland Squares. This game taught me a valuable lesson, don't trust women... When asked, "Where is the place everyone shops?" she answered, "The Dollar Store of course!" Then me, with no knowledge of shopping, agrees, not thinking of Wal-Mart. Needless to say, I got beat really bad, but it was probably the best beating I ever took. I liked the insights too, besides the homework. I thought that's why I went to college, so I would not have homework and just have fun. Just kidding…of course. Doctor Leskiw, best "stripe" ever, there's your shout-out. My recent preparations for college have been to hang out with my high school friends. Although I will miss them, orientation has shown me that college will be the greatest thing I've ever experienced and I'm looking forward to it.