High school is the hardest part of life for a high school student. Trying to find your social group is crucial and maintaining these friendships shapes your high school experience. Grades are not taken as seriously as they should be for most people, but they are nevertheless maintained to please your parents. Missing class, skipping class, or being late in general is usual, and most of your time is managed by the "adults" in your life. You are in a confusing space, struggling between your own free will and the restrictions placed on you by the law, whether those of your parents, your schools, or even state laws, which regulate the time you are allowed to be free. what you can wear, who you can date (that is, if you're allowed to date), in high school you hear stories about how students only have four classes a day and you ask yourself: “what is this?” the big noise? I have 7 classes EVERY DAY. The concept of college courses is not fully understood, or at least it wasn't for me at the time. I thought the workload wouldn't be much different from high school, but it only took two weeks to realize I was sorely mistaken. Tests, labs, lab reports, two-hour lectures, three-hour labs, then more lectures, not to mention work and study. You have twice the information, twice the work, and half the time. It goes without saying that rapid adaptation is essential. In high school, many people can get by without ever having to study, therefore, you don't learn the good study habits that are essential in college. With all the new information you need to learn, memorize, and fully understand before the next class, studying is as necessary as the class itself. In college you study so much that you start to feel like you're teaching yourself, the professor presents the material to you and it's up to you to retain and understand it. You don't have much time to dwell on a concept if one student out of fifty doesn't understand it, so you risk being pushed aside, or asked to meet the professor after class if you have trouble understanding. Once again, I repeat, the workload in high school is great. Everyone tends to wear the same things because they shop in the same neighborhoods, they use the same slang, they listen to the same music and it can all get monotonous. College is a completely different ball game. There are people from all over the world, of different upbringings, with styles you've never seen, words you've never heard spoken in accents that make your ears prick up, and an artist you'd love I never thought twice about listening. It's like everyone is arriving on a flying saucer from their own planet. Learning about all the different cultures around you through the people you come into contact with excites you. This is where you make new connections and new friendships. Your shell of comfort is broken and it is on the outside that you lose your skin of conformity. You realize that everyone is different in many ways.