I'm a First-Generation College Student!

I can relate with chapter 5 in the TLU Reader because I'm a first-generation college student and I am also a woman like the author of this chapter. I agreed with many things she wrote in the chapter because I could relate to most of the things she wrote I especially could relate to her when she said, " The biggest issue for me was I had no idea what to expect about anything. I am sure to a certain extent all first year students feel that way.", and she was right all first year students feel that way because I felt like that and I had no idea what to expect which really bothered me. Not knowing what to expect really bothered me because I hated not knowing what to expect in college it scared me quite a bit. And my parents and my older brother could not help me through this situation since they never attended university so they could not give me any advice or any information on college. So it definitely made this even tougher for me and it worried me a lot more. But luckily I had a little help from my aunt, she was the only other person from my entire family including my dad's and mom's family that could help me with what I was going through, she attended and graduated from Concordia University. So throughout this process she tried to help me and explained to me all things college which helped my anxiety about not knowing what to expect at college. She also helped me a lot when it came to playing a sport while at college because she played basketball while at Concordia University so I was on the same boat. I made sure to take in all of her advice when it came to studying and not to party to much so I would be eligible to play soccer. My aunt helped me a lot but she could only help me with so much since college life changes and also since many colleges are different. So she could not help me with everything which sucked because it definitely made my anxiety come back when she had no idea about some of the questions I would ask about college stuff because she was the only person I could go to for help. But she always tried to calm me down and always reassured me that I could ask for help if I had any problems while at college but all I had to do was ask. So I made sure to keep that tip in mind if I had any problems because even though she helped me with some things I still felt like I was going into the unknown. But that's just part of the college experience you're never going to know exactly what to expect when going to college believe me it's impossible in my opinion even if you are not a first generation college student. And I learned that throughout this experience and I really would like to thank my aunt so much for helping me I honestly appreciated it because it made things way easier for me it would've sucked if I didn't have you there to help me. So thanks tia claudia! I appreciate you and I love you! 

My First College Soccer Game

 I do not own this picture this is from (tlubulldogs.com). It's from the TLU Athletics Gallery.


September 3rd, 2011, was my first college soccer game for Texas Lutheran University. Being a freshman, I was pretty nervous at the start of the game because first of all it was my first college game and I didn't know what to expect being that there was a big difference from playing at a high school level than playing at college level. And second of all, I was starting so it was extremely nerve racking but as soon as the game started all those nerves and butterflies went away. Throughout the game I noticed some differences between playing in high school to playing in college was that it was a lot more physical and the pace of play was faster. The pace of play was faster so I had to adjust to the pace throughout the game but I got the hang of it pretty fast. As for the physical aspect, I straight up was getting my butt kicked because I wasn't playing as aggressive and physical as my opponents. But I completely changed that and became more aggressive by the second half especially since we were losing at the end of the first half 1-0. During halftime I was upset because we were losing and all I wanted to do was help my team by trying my hardest to help our team win the game in some way. One of the girls on the team said something in the huddle that made me want to play better for the team and also motivated me to not only play for myself but play for my teammates as well, she said "Come on girls, let's play for each other!". After she said that I got this sense of motivation and determination to play even harder and with more heart the second half because I realized that this team was my new team now and I wasn't playing for my small town high school anymore I was no longer a queen (my high school mascot) I was a bulldog now and I was playing for something bigger now I was playing for my university, Texas Lutheran University. Two minutes after the second half started I ended up taking a shot from outside and ended up scoring and man it was a great feeling seeing my teammates happily run towards me and give me high fives. It was my first collegiate goal and I'll never forget it. Anyways the score was tied 1-1, ten minutes after my goal my freshman friend headed the ball and assisted my other freshman friend's goal which I found pretty cool because my freshman friends and I were all really nervous before the game because we didn't want to bad and we did okay after all. Well we were winning 2-1 but our adversary ended up beating us and scoring two more goals on us so we ended up losing a close game 2-3. It sucked that we lost because I felt like we should've won and I played my hardest out there and so did the rest of my team but I learned a lot for it only being my first college game. And as much as I didn't want to lose our first game we did but in order to learn how to win you got to learn how to lose and now we just got to focus on our next game and learn from this loss.