By Graham "GSM" Matthews

This weekly blog will document my firsthand experiences as a student at Endicott College. Additionally, I will attempt to offer advice to fellow college students or those looking to attend college down the line.

It seems like only yesterday I was packing my bags for my departure to college. Now, nearly four months later, I am back home for the holidays. As noted in previous posts, I have only come home once before prior to now since going to college, that being for Thanksgiving break in late November. That break was only 10 days, whereas I will be home for over a month this time around. It will have it's respective advantages and disadvantages, but I still look forward to being home for that long. On the plus side, I won't have any school work for the next five weeks, so it will be relaxing to not be under so much pressure like in college.

However, that isn't to say that I won't miss the college life. When I left for college in late August, I knew it was time to go. For well over six months, I was sick of being home (don't get that confused with being 'homesick') and knew I needed a change in scenery. Sure, it was sad to leave home on August 31, but I immediately adapted upon arriving on the college campus and loved every minute. Not everything was perfect, of course, but being at college for four months was fantastic. I have loved college much more than I thought I would, more than I did high school, that is for sure.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

This weekly blog will document my firsthand experiences as a student at Endicott College. Additionally, I will attempt to offer advice to fellow college students or those looking to attend college down the line.

Yes, the most anticipated time of the year has finally arrived (and no, I am not talking about Christmas, as the previous sentence was merely a sarcastic statement). It's finals week! Or at least for college students anyway. I usually had my midterm exams at the end of January in high school, but you didn't already know, college is a completely different atmosphere. Once finals are over, you get to go home and enjoy a nice, long break for a month or possibly longer. It is a pleasant reward and something all college students should keep in mind while taking finals.

Finals are seen as the most stressful time of the year, and understandably so. With so many classes and so many exams in just a small period of time, it is easy to get stressed out. One thing I have learned about test taking in my day is that if you think you are going to fail an exam before you even take it, you have already failed. You need to have confidence. You need to be confident in your abilities that you will do well, and if you don't think you will do well, then study harder or try harder. It is as simple as that.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

This weekly blog will document my firsthand experiences as a student at Endicott College. Additionally, I will attempt to offer advice to fellow college students or those looking to attend college down the line.

This is one of those things that can directly applied to any grade level (hell, even life in general) and not just in college, but it does become more prominent once you become a college level. Or at least from what I have noticed in the three months I have been at Endicott. I apologize for sounding like a broken record, but it is never any less true: Once you're in college, there isn't as much supervision. Your parents aren't there to look after you anymore. Basically, you're on you're own. Thus, it is up to you to make sure that you do everything you need to do and most importantly, ensuring that you arrive to your classes on time.

Normally in grade school, you would take the bus into school or would have your parents drive you in. In college, you walk to your classes, or drive there yourself depending on whether you have a car on campus or not. You probably had a routine going in high school, but that is completely changed when you get to college. If you didn't get enough sleep the night before (and I went into more detail about this in a previous post), you will more than likely be extremely exhausted the next morning and won't want to get up to go to class. So, there is the chance that you will either oversleep or decide not to go to class that day, if for no other reason that your parents aren't there to make you go.