When I first arrived at Mizzou, I had feelings of both nervousness and excitement. I had no idea what was in store for me, but I was ready to hit any curveball thrown at me out of the park (I apologize for the horrible baseball analogy). Over the course of the last nine months, I have endured countless issues, celebrated various victories and learned many lessons. There were a few things I reflected on as my freshman year came to an end and I wanted to share.

1. Being broke is the new normal.

Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone, but I think it’s safe to say that, generally speaking, that dollar bills are few and far between. For the average college kid, there’s no more creeping down the hall and lightly knocking on mom's bedroom door for $20. Or scamming your dad for gas money (and/or any other “important financial endeavor”). In college, it is important to budget your money to the best of your ability because unwanted expenses can make a surprise visit at any given moment. Leaving those $30 heels or $50 jacket to rest on the rack can be difficult, but sometimes it has to be done. You don’t want to end up back in your old bedroom-turned-home gym because you missed a tuition payment, now would you?

2. Time management is a skill that must be mastered.

Personally speaking, before I got to college, I thought my time management skills were on point. I had time for an academic life, a social life, and even sleep. However, college is a completely different story. In order to fulfill those dreadful responsibilities in the best way possible, "wants" sometimes have to reside on the backburner. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying if you want good grades that you have to kiss your social life goodbye. I am saying, though, that you can't always do what you want or have what you want all the time. Because spending a consecutive eight hours in multiple classrooms isn't something that happens anymore, you are presented with ample opportunities to mess around and/or have a little fun. My suggestion? Buy yourself a planner and start planning out your week (or even day, whatever works for you) because honey you’ve got a storm heading your way.

3. There will be a mixture of short lived acquaintances and friends who you'll invite to your 53rd birthday party.

A lot of people come into college with this preconceived notion that everyone you meet will be a lifelong friend simply because they aren’t in high school anymore. Let me clear this up now, this isn't exactly true. You’re going to be close to people based solely on the fact that you share notes in *insert class here* or because you run into each other in the most random places on campus every day without fail. However, those kinds of “friendships” can be short lived. Throughout many stages of life, you will have friendships that exist simply due to convenience. Don’t stress yourself out trying to keep everyone you meet around all four years because there's a large chance everything won't be all glitter and rainbows forever.*Disclaimer: I know I sound cynical, but I do have hope for some friendships that are made through the ways I mentioned earlier. I am just taking a more realistic look at this particular truth.*

4. Everyone's experiences are not your own (and that's okay).

This particular truth seems obvious, but allow me to explain myself. When I say this, I mean that the only person you should be in a competition with is yourself. There are thousands of students (depending on the size of your school) that have the same major as you. A select few of them want to do the exact same thing that you want to do. In college, you will meet people that have been presented with a variety of opportunities, ones that you may not have necessarily had access to. For example, just because some girl/guy has worked in their cousin’s bank for most of high school and you’ve barely stepped in a bank to even make a deposit, doesn’t mean you are less qualified than they are at starting your own bank. Everyone’s journeys to their the long awaited future takes on different forms for a reason. We’d be living in a pretty boring world if people did everything the exact same way in order to get somewhere in life.