I can’t believe Thanksgiving break is only a week and a half away. Where has the time gone?  For the most part, the last three months have absolutely flown by. There is just one exception… French. When I signed up for that class at the beginning of the year, I was excited. Up until that point, French class had always come fairly easy to me, and I actually wanted to minor in it. I stepped through that door on the first day and left fifty minutes later with my dreams pretty much crushed. I was not prepared to walk into a French 3 class taught entirely in rapidly spoken French. I got a C on my first exam and I was ready to drop that class there and then. I was not used to getting grades anywhere near that low, much less in something I was planning on minoring in.

I really wanted to give up, but I quickly realized that I would just have to take the class again. Liberal arts majors require a third level proficiency in a second language, and it wouldn’t make any sense to start over at level one in a new language. I stuck it out, and boy am I glad I did. Over the course of the semester I worked harder than ever and watched my grade slowly increase with each quiz and exam. I went to office hours and studied with a friend on the side to work on improving my skills. (I even took some pretty stupid pictures with “french words” so I could get the couple of points extra credit on each exam.) Yesterday, I received my best exam grade yet. Although I won’t know my final score until the open ended essay portion is graded, the testing center provides the score on the multiple choice and fill in the blank sections immediately after finishing the exam. I got them all right. I didn’t think it was possible to feel that happy after walking out of the Pollock Testing Center. I think I just might stick with that French minor.

The point is, I learned something from that class, and not just how to speak the language. Taking this course helped me to realize how important it is not to give up on something when you aren’t immediately good at it. Until I got to college, I was used to being good at most things I tried, and when I wasn’t, I didn’t usually have a reason to stick with them. I didn’t realize how great it would feel to significantly improve at something.

Sticking it out taught me some valuable lessons that I am sure I will continue to use throughout college. First of all, it encouraged my to try out and take advantage of some of the resources here in my first semester. I got over my fear of office hours, and I was reminded how valuable it can be to study with others. I realized that it is okay to ask for help when you are struggling on something, and in the end you are going to be grateful that you did. It is a lot less stressful to face something with others, then to face it alone. Most importantly, it humbled me. I know I am not the only one who went into college expecting that AP and honors classes would have prepared me for college, but they didn’t come anywhere close to simulating college work. If I am going to succeed in college, I need to realize that not everything is going to come easy to me anymore (and I need to be okay with that). So here is a little reminder to all of you who have felt they same way that I have this semester. If you are really passionate about something, don’t give up on it just because you don’t succeed right away. You will most likely learn a lot more in the end than just the material you wanted to.