As my first year of college at Cal Lutheran comes to an end, I thought I would share a few things I have learned from this year so far. A lot of trials and tribulations have occurred - I’ve made new friends, had new experiences and begun to figure out my life. There is a lot of figuring out still left to do, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share some of the big things my freshman year has taught me.

1. You will be forced to meet new people (and you’ll like it)

Every college freshman enters into their first year usually knowing no one at the school they’ve chosen, causing leaders - or rather peer advisors - to come up with creative ways to encourage involvement, such as dorm wide competitions and get-to-know-you activities that all freshman and new coming students must participate in. You meet new people, you forget their names five minutes later, and you’ll probably see their face maybe once on campus in the next two months or you’ll meet your new best friends that will from then on out be by your side every step of the way throughout the rest of the year.

2. You’re not going to get along with your roommates all the time

You might like them, you might hate them, but one thing is for sure you’ll get used to being around them all the time because you’ll be sleeping across the room from them for at least a semester. Whether you’ve known them your whole life, or they’re a complete stranger, odds are you’ll fight at least once. Due to interruptions, too many distractions, too much noise, uncleanliness, or even over-cleanliness, fights are bound to happen - you might even not talk all the time, but you’ll learn to have at least a little love for your roommate. They might end up being your best friend, or just a person you shared a room with once, but your freshman year roommate will be one you’ll remember.

3. You’ll meet at least one amazing friend

It will probably happen somewhere random. In a dumb first year core class, during a get-to-know-you activity during orientation, or even just in the cafeteria during lunch time, but by the time you finish your first year you’ll meet at least one new friend that will change your outlook on college completely. Soon enough you’ll do everything with them; meals, study dates, work out sessions and weekend activities will all be spent with this new individual that you have chosen to be your partner on the adventure that is your first year of college. And you'll love every minute of it.

4. You’ll go out (at least once)

It might be your favorite thing to do on the weekends, or you might hate it and vow to never go out again, but odds are, you’ll attend at least one party with some of your friends. It might be small, or it could be big with everyone that you’ve ever seen before on campus, and you might drink or you might not, but an essential part of your freshman year will include at least one outing on the weekends. Who knows, you might even meet some new people and actually have a little bit of fun.

5. You’ll get homesick

Whether you’re from a state across the country, or you’re house is five minutes down the road, you’ll miss your home at least once. From home cooked meals, to free laundry and your own bed, you’ll miss the place you came from just a little bit, or even a lot as you venture through your first year of school. You might even arrange an extra trip home just to fix that.

6. You’ll join a random group/club/team

You might be an athlete, an actor or an involved student looking for academic clubs or even student government, but by the end of the year you’ll probably be involved in at least one or more clubs, teams, or groups on campus. Ranging from intramural sports, a religious organization, to the theater department, you’ll eventually find your niche on campus. You might even meet some of your best friends there.

7. You’ll have to take at least one pointless class

Core 21 will most likely be the death of you and frustrate the hell out of you by the end of freshman year. You’ll probably be questioned as to why you’re taking a law class when your major is communication or whether or not geology is an easy science class to take at least once during your first two semesters in college, and the answer will always be “I don’t know”. This is because, although you are in college to get a degree in at least one subject, you are required to learn about all other topics on the spectrum, even if you know you’ll never use the names of certain rocks and minerals ever again in your day to day life. Like I said before - geology, just about as fun as it sounds. But hey - you’ll learn new information, and maybe it’ll be beneficial.

8. You’re going to learn to live alone (aka doing your own laundry sucks)

When it comes to taking care of yourself, you’ll have it down by the end of your first semester. Whether it has to do with taking yourself to the doctor when you’re sick, to finding a person that actually has a car on campus to take you to get groceries, or even making a budget to survive the month on for all proper college activities, you will have to learn to adjust. This adjustment might be the worst thing you’ve ever gone through (because who actually enjoys doing their own laundry) but it is something you, and every other freshman, will have to deal with.

9. You’ll experience freedom (and love it)

It might be your first time being truly alone, but you’ll realize you have full control over yourself. You get to make your own decisions, pick your own classes, and live your life the way you want to. You truly are in charge of yourself. Your curfew, your friends, your activities - all are fully up to you. This freedom has its perks and its negatives, but overall you’ll end up loving it, and all the things you can get away with now that you’re on your own.

10. You’ll eat chicken tenders at least once

I guarantee that this statement goes for more schools than just Cal Lutheran, but when it comes to on-campus dining, you will have very limited options as to what you can eat, and also what you’ll choose to eat. There will be pizza, and tacos, and french fries, and every sort of thing that your mother warned you not to eat too much of, but when it truly comes down to it, the school’s cafeteria might not have something good every single day, so you’ll wind up eating the dreaded chicken strips and realizing that despite all the hate, they’re actually good. Which brings me to #11:

11. The "Freshman 15" does exist (well, maybe not for everyone)

It might not happen directly to you, but you will soon find out that entering college, and containing all the freedom that I previously stated isn’t always a good thing, and in fact you or one of your friends might just gain the rumored freshman 15, or rather an extra amount of weight on your body that wasn’t there when you began the school year. It happens. You deal with it. We move on.

12. You might fall in love

Freshman 15 or not, you might just meet the one. This person might be someone that lives next door to you in the dorms, or even someone older and wiser than yo, but it is highly possible that you will find someone that makes your endless days of school work and studying a little more bearable (for the time being).

13. You’ll study more than you thought you'd have to/want to

Though it might seem like one big fiesta all the time, college is a lot of hard work, and there will be many sleepless nights and downed energy drinks and coffees in the process. Whether it’s a biology exam that you want to ace and so you study the whole night away for it, or it’s a religion essay that you totally waited last minute to start, you’ll stay up at least one night and get way less sleep than you actually need.

14. Finals week and midterms really kill you

They really don’t lie when they call it “dead eek”, because campus is in fact very dead, and all students are barely alive and running on around 3 hours of sleep as everyone prepares for far too many essays and exams that they will spend hour upon waking hour studying for.

15. You’ll learn how to balance

An opinion shared by many college students is that you have the selection of five things: school, sleep, sports/activities, love life, social life. Of thos five things it’s typical to only be allowed to pick three of the five. But in the slim chance that you want to actually live your life and be able to pick more than just the three typically known things, you will learn how to balance. You’ll learn how to balance your school work, your social life, your sleep and your extra activities based upon what you view as important.

16. People will change

You might think you have everything figured out by the first week of school and classes, but odds are you have no clue what will come of your life in the next and upcoming months. Based upon your friends, your mindset and your course load from first semester, a lot will change. This for the most part includes the people you spend most of your time with. A lot of people will show their true colors by spring semester, and that’s when the real people within emerge and you figure out who is and who is not an asset to your life and your future.

17. People will leave

With people changing, people will also leave. College isn’t for everyone, and many people will figure this out by the end of first semester. These people might switch schools, or even drop out, leaving you to wonder what their mindset was to begin the year in the first place. When people leave, you might love them, or you might hate them, but overall you will know for sure by the end of the year that not everyone fits in everywhere, and some people will learn that along the way

18. You’ll change

I hope this is true for most people, but if I have learned one thing from my first year of college, its that you as a human being will change dramatically. You’ll find your real friends, learn what’s important to you and figure out overall what your true goals in life really are. Freshman year is a year full of new experiences and new people and one thing you will learn is that with all these new things, you will truly become a new person and grow so much more than who you were in high school. Though it might be strange at many points in time, it is one of the most beautiful situations you can be put through.

19. You might find your happiness

Though every single moment might not be a scene out of a movie, or even something that you pictured a thousand times before, you might actually find your happiness in your first year of college. With the right people, a new mindset and your life to choose right in front of you, a lot can happen and it’s truly incredible the happiness you can acquire if you’re in the right place. Or you might not be in the right place, but figuring that out is half the beauty of you freshman year

20. You will survive

It might not seem possible, but you will survive your freshman year. Trust me, there will be many times where you want to give up and start new somewhere else, or just drop out altogether, and you might even question why you’re there to begin with, but I am a true believer in one thing: everything happens for a reason. Though you might never know what this reason truly is, you will figure it out eventually and everything will be amazing.