When I envisioned what my college experience would consist of, I pictured dorm rooms, freedom, new friends, parties, and some learning in the mix. To me college was considered the time to figure out who you are and what you want to be, and have new experiences. I could not wait to go to college! I survived one semester of BCC before I decided I wanted to put college on hold and have fun. I had a job where I was making good money and I thought I had life made! I was definitely not prepared for what the future had planned for me. April 18th, 2010 I was blessed with a beautiful daughter, and I knew my life was going to change, along with all my plans. As I watched all my friends go off and continue living the "college life". I was determined to go back to college one way or another.
It may have taken longer than I had hoped, but I did it, back at college! It may not be the 4 year university I had imagined, but it was a start. My first week of classes was a piece of cake, I thought this was going to be a breeze. I had a ton of motivation and i was so excited to be back in school working toward my degree. As school progress and the classes began to pick up it started to get harder for me to balance between school and being a single mom with a two year old. I had to get use to a new routine; wake up by 6am, shower, get myself ready, wake my daughter up, get her ready for daycare, make breakfast for the both of us, bring her to daycare, go to class all day, pick her up from daycare, clean, make dinner for her and then for me, clean some more, give her a bath, get her ready for bed, bedtime stories or movie, and then finally put her to bed! By the time she went to bed I could barely keep my eyes open while trying to study or do homework. When I tried doing school work while she was up it was constant distractions, "mommy eat", "mommy cup", "mommy color", my notebook and book would be filled with more of her drawings and scribbles then my own work! I started to think this was going to be difficult to accomplish. How would I be able to pull this off?
After two weeks of hectic chaos, I finally managed to gain control of managing my time (for the most part). Managing schoolwork and a demanding toddler will always be a challenge, but I knew it wasn't impossible. This is definitely not the exciting, fun "college experience" that I had imagined. This is definitely the most difficult educational experience for me, but I feel the outcome will be much more rewarding once I have accomplished my goals.
