University of New England: Amanda Hall

Hey all you blogg readers! My name is Amanda Hall, and I am a nursing student here at UNE. Some information you might like to know about me is I have lived in Maine all my life, and I truly love this beautiful state. You can say I love Maine so much I wanted to continue my education here, and UNE had everything I was looking for in a perfect nursing school.

Unlike the other bloggers I am giving my readers a different perspective, because I'll be studying/living on the quaint Westbrook College Campus (abbreviated WCC for a classy space saving touch). The WCC has a lot of differences from the Biddeford Campus. For example the WCC is smaller, and there is a lot more estrogen here on the WCC. However, there are some perks here. My campus is on the outskirts of downtown Portland, and its only 10 minutes away from the Maine Mall! The other bloggers can't say that about their campus.

I took this picture just after leaving the cafeteria for breakfast

So now you know a little about me, and where I come from. Let me begin my topic.

A beautiful fall afternoon

Right now our college is in the middle of a change of season. Just as I am adjusting to the new climate so am I adjusting to life in college. Even though I have been here for only a couple of weeks I have learned a lot of useful information from this place. As you should know becoming a nurse is a lot of work, and if you want to do well in class you need to be prepared for class. What does this all mean? Let me just say I've been doing a lot more textbook reading than I did in high school.

Most notably a professor once told our class that college is not like going on to the next grade, (a 13th grade as he put it) but college is actually like moving ahead four grades. That got me thinking about the reality of his statement. In college there is more to do, more to learn, and more to experience. To me college is the complete opposite of high school.

In high school teachers are responsible in educating you, and at home your parents are responsible for your personal needs. Yet in college you are basically responsible for “YOU.”

Stayed up all night? Well you can't sleep through your Anatomy class or you'll miss something important for the test. -

Personally the one big perk in college is that you get the choice to choose. I remember in high school I had to take a year of art to be able to graduate, and I can only draw stick figures! At UNE I take classes I know will be important in my nursing career, and right now I have just scratched the surface of the nursing field. In brief college is not a 13th year, it's a beginning.