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Freshman year.

For most people, their first year in college is a huge one.  You’re flying from the nest for the first time – out to fend for yourself in a new place with new people and new responsibilities. You’re given a new sense of freedom: you get to be the adult you thought you deserved to be throughout all of high school!

Your first weekend on campus will likely be a core memory to your existence; something you will never forget (or never remember, if that’s how you roll). You’ll probably shed a tear (or sixty) hugging your dad, as he gets ready to leave. You’ll probably laugh as your overprotective and crazy but adoring mom unleashes a waterfall of tears hugging her baby goodbye (as if you’d never see her again). You’ll almost definitely spend too much time clinging onto your newfound besties (aka your hall mates) and your phone because they’re all you know so far. You’ll probably end up in a house with a beer soaked basement floor, listening to the same club remix on repeat, feeling like a million bucks (and also disgusted because guys are gross and you’re sliding everywhere) for getting in to your first college party. You’ll feel like you’re on a vacation – like your dorm room is just a temporary weekend stay and those annoying habits your roommate lives by will just go away. It’s not just a vacation and those habits are there to stay. 

Somewhere between walking around town, dressed to impress, all night and waking up the next morning in a completely different place than the night before, you’ll realize you’re not in Kansas high school anymore. Maybe it won’t fully hit you until the end of your first month, but it will hit you. This is college. This is being an adult. This is you, on your own. Nobody is there to force you to study or do your laundry, to clean your room or to keep you from having casual sex with your neighbor. You’ve got the choice in your hands and that’s incredibly scary and completely liberating at the same time - a perfect storm.

Your first year of college will start to make you or it’ll break you. I saw both up close and personal. Luckily, for me, it was a positive experience. I enjoyed all of my classes (okay except astronomy because that’s bullshit) and excelled in them. I made the Dean’s list both semesters with, at one point, two jobs (hollaaaaa), but that came at a bit of a cost. Unlike my core group of friends, I chose to stay in and study most Thursday nights. I did all of my assignments and actually (sometimes) read the textbook for class. I let those crazy nights of house-hopping and loud music pass by to focus on why I was really there – to get an education. (Which was super beneficial and responsible of me, but I wish I would've gone out more. I deserved the break.)

I saw my friends go out all the time and I watched as they struggled to make it to class, for the sixth time that week. They focused on the “making memories” portion of college, instead of the degree and they suffered for it. Do yourself a favor and realize early on that if you fail out of your classes, your nights of “memories” go away really quickly. Your parents aren’t going to (over)pay for you to just party all of the time and come out 4 years later without a degree. Get over it and get serious.

I also split my time between two campuses; my own and my boyfriend’s thirty minutes away. It was totally great at the time. There was an awesome feeling that came with spending an entire weekend with your love, waking up in his arms, making breakfast at noon, and (the best part) not having anybody to tell you you can’t. However, relationships end and so does your first year. The only issue is you’ll never get (at least) one of those back. If I could do it again, I honestly wouldn’t change anything about the back and forth, my campus or yours situation but I do regret not being around my campus as often. My advice? Date somebody from your own campus, leave the boyfriend behind more often, or switch schools (just kidding, that’s ridiculous).

You’ll hear it a million and three times, but I’m dead serious when I say get involved. Do it. Join or create a club, hit up a hockey game, or go to exercise classes at the gym. Take full advantage of the free concerts and comedians you get to enjoy for just being a student. If you don’t do it for fun, do it for your sanity. Take a break from studying and partying and do something different. Open up your mind and explore stuff! That’s part of college’s hidden curriculum (or agenda, for you non-ed majors): to explore new stuff and discover who you are meant to be. I spent all of my first semester too wrapped up in my job, my boyfriend, and my studies to really get involved in my school. I found myself regretting my decision to attend that school a lot more the first semester, when I was less involved, than I did in the spring.

Ps you should join a sorority or a fraternity. You may not think you’re cut out for it, but going through recruitment doesn’t hurt a thing. I was COB’d during the spring (so I didn’t get a formal recruitment) and it was the best decision I have made in college so far. I’ve met the most amazing girls and they have become an amazing support system. My big is the sweetest and my grandbig (my big’s big) is the most precious. They’re the first people I go to when I need advice on new clothes or boys or really anything. They’re the ladies I’ll go to when I need to smile and they never let me down. Plus, you get more opportunities to meet people in Greek life, through volunteering for your philanthropies, and just in general. It also provides you with resume gold, so that’s awesome.

Freshman year will go by faster than you’d ever imagine. You’ll feel like you just finished settling in as finals week for spring comes around. The year will sometimes seem like it’s passing super slowly, but when you’re moving out of the dorms you’ll realize how much of a blur it was. You might never know how you made it through a grueling year of new experiences, higher expectations, and freedom but you did. You were able to live with your roommates annoying habits and made new friends outside of your floor. You started to grow up without realizing it and now look at you; you’re a sophomore in college!

Use your second year as a way to make up for the mistakes you made the first time around. You only get one, second year. Go kill it!