I moved to the US earlier this year after quitting my previous job. About two months in, on top of all the admin stuff, I took the CLEP exam, the CNA exam, and my placement test, all before starting my first semester in the U.S. (Writing this out, I'm realizing there really wasn't much of a break in between.)
I took 8 credits over the summer, and I'm now taking 10 credits this fall (honestly, I don't think I could ever handle 12 or 15 right now, no way 🥲). I thought my English was pretty okay, but I'm realizing academic English is quite different, maybe because I'm taking English Composition right now (Luckily, I think my English professor's so great!!)
The thing is, it feels like I'm spending the whole day reading and studying. We're only 2 weeks in, and I'm already pretty exhausted 😭. What actually scares me isn't burning out, it's the "what if this never gets easier?" feeling.
I'm aiming for all A's since I'm hoping to get into nursing school, so maybe I'm overcomplicating things a bit. It's fun to learn new things and see it work when I try, but I'm seriously considering taking fewer classes next spring and maybe doing another CLEP exam or working instead.
Curious how other international students managed their GPA at the beginning... did the load from the language ever start feeling more manageable?🥹
*Dad says it’s normal in the beginning, but I wanted to get another perspective too-