They all told you how excited they were for you, how they all wish they could do it over themselves.

They told you it would be stressful at times, but that you would find yourself. They told you the memories would last forever, as well as the friendships you made along the way. While all of these things are true, a few things were left out.

As a freshman about to finish my second semester, I constantly look back and realize how little I knew about college when I began my first year at the University of Kansas. So let me spare you the trouble, and either tell you or remind you of the harsh yet wonderful reality of college.

Freshmen, you will never have alone time. Ever. Unless you got blessed with having your own room. But maybe even then you still will never be alone. There will be times when you just have to get in your car and drive. You will be willing to drive anywhere for however long it takes, just to hear yourself think. Don't have a car? Then I suggest picking up walking.

Leaving for a long break is one of the most rewarding, most heartbreaking times you will experience. Those exams you broke your back over are finally behind you, but your best friends will be 2,000 miles away for weeks, even months at a time. While gaining friends from places ranging from California to New York, college is when you realize that parts of your heart are now all over the country.

The friends you had in high school may not be your friends forever. You will lose touch and you will become different people, but your life will go on. College is a time for personal growth, and sometimes you and your friends from high school just grow in different directions.

Moving away from your siblings will bring you closer together. Admit it, we all took them for granted when we lived at home. After spending this time apart, you will realize how much you really need them. You will be missing the times they annoyed you to the point where you muttered, I can't wait to leave for college. Because of this, you will appreciate every little chance you get to see them much more now.

With all of your new responsibilities, you will break and lose more items than you even own. You will eventually learn not to cry about it.

Sorority women, there will be stereotypes thrown in your face. You will be judged and sometimes you will let it get to you. But at the end of the day, only you know who you are. It is important to remember that the letters do not define you. You define the letters.

Your dorm will never look like the Pinterest board you were pinning to all summer long. It just won't. You can get crafty and creative all you want, but at the end of the day, it will not be what you imagined. But for now, it's home.

You will receive grades that make you want to hide under a rock. You knew college would be difficult, but you will underestimate just how much until it hits you in the most painful of ways, such as when you study for a test for a whole week and still fail.

You will find more use out of libraries than you ever have in your life. If they were ever foreign to you before, meet your new best buds.

You will spend way too much money on Comfort Colors T-shirts. You will regret the ones you buy and you will regret the ones you don't buy, so you might as well buy them all because life is short and college is shorter.

If you ever decide to actually look like a presentable human being for class, you will regret the decision immediately. Everyone is going to look like they just rolled out of bed, and you will end up looking like the odd one out.

The only people who matter are those who make an effort to be in your life, and chasing after people will never get you what you want. You will survive multiple heartbreaks before this one sinks in. Lucky for you, everyone has either learned this lesson, is learning it, or will learn it You are in good company.

Nobody can prepare you for the times you will need your mom and dad. You won't see it coming, and sometimes you won't even know why you need them, but you will break down and call. They are the only people who know just how to help you piece your life back together. Trust me, it may fall apart more than you expected but that's OK because that's what parents are for.

You will meet people who make you feel lucky to be alive, and you will meet people who know just how to tear you down. But everyone you meet here is part of your college story. Everything you experience and learn at this point in your life is significant to some degree. So take every moment in, make stupid, spontaneous decisions, and don't forget to breathe. Everything you have had to figure out on your own will have the biggest impact on your life, and you will never forget the things that they never told you.