Being a freshman in college is difficult. Being a freshman at a college like Furman can be even more difficult. A lot of us don't know anyone, or maybe just a couple people at Furman. Sure, you could get advice from the older sister who went to a big state school, but here's what you need to know about going to Furman.

1. Buy laundry pods.

Don't get a huge thing of laundry detergent. You will never end up using the whole thing, so don't bother. Not to mention, you can carry a couple of the pods downstairs a whole lot easier than carrying a thing of laundry detergent.

2. Don't buy a huge laundry hamper.

You're going to end up carrying this up and down the stairs when you want to do laundry, so don't get something that will make it a huge hassle to do laundry. You'll put it off as it is.

3. Get rid of things. NOW.

I mean it. Get rid of anything you don't think you'll use over the next year. You'll really get mad at yourself come May when you're packing things that you haven't touched since you moved in at the end of August.

4. Take advantage of the DH.

As a freshman, you get unlimited dining hall swipes. You can also get to-go boxes. So if you have cereal in your room but don't have milk, swipe in and get a to go cup of milk. You're only a broke college student once, so fully embrace it.

5. Do the orientation activities.

Yes, you'll feel stupid. Yes, it's incredibly awkward. But who knows, you may find your future best friend. At the very least, you will have bonded with your class over the fact that you did all of these stupid activities together. Yes, you'll still be talking about the activities your Senior year.

6. Go to the student involvement fair.

Best case scenario, you see lots of activities you want to get involved in. Worst case, there's tons of free stuff.

7. Don't get too involved.

At a school like Furman, the academic load can be difficult to adjust to. The last thing you want to do is get overinvolved in other activities while trying to adjust to academics. Pick one or two things you can really be passionate about.

8. Get your wellness class over with.

It's going to be a necessary evil, so you might as well knock it out as soon as possible instead of putting it off into you're a senior and are taking what is essentially gym class.

9. Knock out your GERs.

You may not know what you want to major in. And that's fine. So in the meantime, knock out as many GERs as possible. You never know, you may find what you really want to do through one of your GERs.

10. Get your CLPs.

Yes, you get your first one during O-Week, but you don't want to fall behind on them. You will hear plenty of horror stories about Seniors who are still working on getting them, or almost didn't graduate due to CLPs. Furman doesn't play. You shouldn't either.

11. Don't take an 8:30.

You think you can do it. It's the same time that school started during high school. You can do it. No. No, you can't. Especially if it's across campus.

12. Book classes back to back.

Once you get back to your room, you won't want to leave again.

13. Check your class' location

When you do book your classes back to back, however, check the location of the classes. My freshman year, I had 10 minutes to run clear across campus. From Hipp all the way to the Playhouse. When I collapsed in my seat, it took a few minutes to recover.