It's hard to believe that my summer will be over with in less than one month. Surprisingly I'm not too upset about this at all. It will be nice to go back to college and get in my usual routine once again. I've already been off for two and a half months, and for me that's plenty of time. It's going to be great to see some familiar faces and begin new classes. Although the latter won't be so enjoyable, nonetheless, I am looking forward to learning. I expect my Sophomore year to be much better than last year. Don't get me wrong, for the most part my Freshman year went very well. But I now know the layout of the school, people, and the very aspects of college life, so things should be a lot easier.
I just found out the other day that I can move in on August 30th, and I'm not happy about that at all. This is because classes start the next day, it doesn't give much time to settle in and get everything unpacked. I'm going to be rushing from the time I arrive until the time I go to bed... not exactly what I want to do. But I guess it is what it is. At the beginning of July the college received a new president. The past president, Richard Berman, decided to resign after 15 years on the job. It's sad to see him go, on account of how much he did for Manhattanville. When he came to the campus in the 90's the place was in pretty bad shape, it was only a step away from closing permanently. After many improvements though, the college began to shine again. Hopefully, President Smith can keep the school well balanced and make it even better than before. We will just have to wait and see.
Last year when I came to Manhattanville I was stunned to discover how different college is from high school. It was a truly drastic change for the better. College is incredibly laid back. There is quite a bit of work involved in it however, but it's easier to accomplish. And most of the professors don't give homework, it's basically the student's responsibility to study and know the material. As long as a successful grade is received on the required tests and assignments all is well. I generally always make sure I do some studying before a test, but it's nice not to feel pressured into it, as in high school. I don't have to do extra work for no reason, I do only the amount I need to succeed.
In contrast, I do in fact get some very large assignments every once in awhile. Most of my college papers are at least double the length of the usual ones I was required to do in high school. But there many benefits to this, over the past year I have noticed my writing ability has improved a great deal. At the start of the new semester I'm taking a writing class, so hopefully this will enable me to grasp even more concepts that should improve my work. I cleary remember writing a 15 page critical essay in the spring that dealt with the history and philosophy of NYC. Well, this paper took me over a month to completely write and edit, it was quite a pain. However, I feel as though I accomplished something great, not because I wrote a literary masterpiece, believe me it was far from it, but because it was the longest paper I have ever written. By the completion of it I realized that I had placed a tremedous amount of time and effort into the essay. If I can dedicate myself to a long paper like this, then I can do just about anything I put my mind to. I guess this is what college is all about, if the initiative is taken to go, great things can then be expected after the four years are finished.
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