A person’s first week at college is one of the most significant transition periods in their life. It is ultimately one of the most surprising, frightening, and enjoyable experiences they will have. My first week at NDSU was no exception to this. There were things about my first week that I was completely not expecting, things that didn’t surprise me at all, and things that have been very rewarding. First, multiple things about my first week of college surprised me. One of these things was that the days don’t go by nearly as slowly as I thought they would. In high school, I was at school from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. on any given day, and no matter what, the time seemed to go unbearably slow. I thought that I would be experiencing the same feeling of the day dragging on in college. Because I don’t live on campus, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a 5 p.m. class, on those days I am typically on campus from 9:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. I didn’t think I would be able to handle long school hours again, especially hours even longer than I was at high school. However, there are so many ways to stay busy at NDSU that the hours practically fly by in a comparison to high school. The seemingly shorter school days are just one of the things that surprise me about NDSU. Second, there were several things about college that met my expectations exactly. For example, going into college I figured that there was going to be a very large amount of homework in comparison to high school. I was definitely correct about this. In high school, it wasn’t too difficult to get by with minimal effort and attention paid in class. However, my first week at NDSU showed me that college indeed does require much effort and actually doing the reading from the textbook that you are assigned. I don’t have a problem with doing my homework, it is just something that I have observed and expected before I started college. There are many things about college that were not at all surprising to me, but the amount of homework is the one out that stands out to me the most. Finally, my first week of college has already been very rewarding for a few reasons. One reason for this is the people that I have met. Only after one week, I have made many new friends in various ways. Not only have I met people from different states and schools, but I have also become closer friends with my some of my close friends from high school, as well as became friends with people from my high school that I have never talked to before. Other things about my first week of college have been gratifying, but my friends and the people I have met are what I value the most. Just like any other student, my first week at NDSU has had moments that were shocking to me, others that I expected to happen coming into college, and things that have been rewarding to me. I was very surprised that the days didn’t seem as long as I expected them too, I wasn’t at all surprised by the amount of homework that I have been given so far, and I have found the people that I have met, among other things, have made my first week of college very rewarding. Overall, as someone who was very scared of starting their first week of college, my first week of school has taught me that college is actually not a scary experience, and although it may have it’s frightening moments, there will ultimately be even more enjoyable and gratifying experiences to make up for it.