Topic > College Life: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Learning

The daily activities of the college lifestyle can be difficult to balance for many students. A typical college student, like me, can spend up to eighty hours a week on work and school, if not more. When you spend so much time on these things, you can be stressed about school work and even the hours you could put into a part-time or full-time job. The college lifestyle can be difficult to balance due to work hours, studying for classes, family relationships, and social life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay A student can work a variety of different jobs, just like anyone else, but working in a grocery store can sometimes be easier since they can work around the days and times when students are most easily available. They can do this because they have so many people working for their company. However, a worker can easily work forty hours a week. However, working in a grocery store can be a very physical job, causing you to be more tired and less likely to be well rested. This can make it difficult to get school work done in a timely manner. As they struggle to complete schoolwork, they may struggle to fit family and social time into their schedule. While working full time, a student can be involved in many different activities. The typical student must work approximately thirty hours per week if not more. While working during these hours a student may encounter many different people and things. For example, while working in a typical grocery store, the typical customer service employee deals with approximately seventy shoppers in a four-hour shift. These meetings can include many different things. Sometimes a customer may ask if we have a certain product or if we have any in the back of the store. In many cases these items may be in the freezing cold that takes your breath away, on the back dock with no air conditioning, muggy weather, or even outdoors in the sweltering heat. For example, while working in the grocery department I had to stock up on eggs. This is a very common part of working in the food industry, but it's just as annoying. Egg storage begins by reaching into the refrigerator and lifting the egg crate from the rear cart to the floor or shelf. You might not think that a crate of feather-light eggs is heavy, but once you add the weight of the Styrofoam along with the eggs, your muscles begin to tense in the cool air and struggle until you reach your desired destination: the shelf. After moving the carton, you often need to carefully take out each egg carton to avoid a slimy, oozing mess in case they get damaged on the journey to the store. This is just one of the many messes that typical underpaid grocery workers can encounter. While in the refrigerator you may need to avoid the many spilled or damaged items that you still need to account for. Sometimes, if a worker has a very good sense of smell, like me, they can smell eggs that have been crushed, broken, or even dropped. It goes without saying that the smell of dry, raw eggs is not pleasant. However, this is just one of many things a grocery clerk may encounter. While being asked to carry eggs, the mother may also notice a single mother yelling at her children to "get your ass" to where she is as fast as possible. This aggressive command is actually very common in grocery stores,surprisingly. Then, after hearing the mother scream, you see her children, as many as there may be, running and tripping over themselves to get there before the mother's face turns any other shade of red. Normally most children are quite well behaved, but there are always some who don't want to listen to the red-faced mother who refuses to stop yelling at her children. This causes a mass of shoppers, customers and especially workers, to look at her and wonder why the hell she brought them all to the store. You may also be interested in Preparing for University Life: Frequently Asked Questions and Tips for a Smooth Transition Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Contrary to popular belief… Although work is a very irritating, annoying and time-consuming part of a student's life, university can sometimes be a very comfortable and peaceful oasis. Going to school can give an overworked student a period of free time that they might not otherwise enjoy. Classes are the main part of college. A student may be involved in multiple different classes, although four is usually the very common minimum. These meandering classes typically consist of a math, English, science, and computer course. While some classes are more fun than others, sitting through computer science class can be monotonous. You usually don't get much mental or physical stimulation. Most of the time the student sits there and suffers through a lesson on how to use the most basic programs known to man: Microsoft Office. However, sometimes, on an extraordinarily irritating day, the professor takes control of the computer screens, pissing off many students. This forces the irritated, sleep-deprived student to listen to what the professor is saying even though he or she has already read the material a million uncomfortable and irritating times. This, however, is only one of the possibilities. In a science class, you might be talking about electrons and neurons one day and trying to figure out what the slimy insides of organs are made of the next. In English, it might be about why a student shouldn't procrastinate on writing the inevitable paper about what you hear, see, and feel in numerous different situations. Who wouldn't want to talk about the wonders of the world of mathematics with the lovely Mrs. Harding? All of this could happen while students are sitting in horribly uncomfortable seats, but also under the irritating gaze of the teacher who talks as if his math-filled life depends on it. Students are then forced to delve into completely unrelated things, like how the teacher goes to school, to be even more irritating. These are all great examples of the different parts of classes, but the best part of classes is being able to enjoy campus. One can enjoy the cool water as it flows over their hand if they immerse it in the mossy green water of the pond with the gentle current drawing the water towards the waterfall mechanism. They can also enjoy the warm colors of the changing leaves in autumn while sitting outside smoking a much needed cigarette. After all the chaos of the day, the drive home can be by far the most relaxing part of college. Students can enjoy a music-filled ride home to unwind from the previous day. These routes, if you're like me, can include beautiful bodies of water, brightly colored trees, and many, many upsetting drivers who insist on driving like a turtle in a snowstorm with no legs. While you work and go to school it can.