Your college years are filled with some crazy, amazing, and unique experiences. For many people like myself, college is the first time when we’re on our own and don’t have our parents around to make sure we get home safely, do our homework, eat all our meals and keep our rooms clean (my roommates know this is a huge struggle for me, sorry guys). These new responsibilities lead to new opportunities to take advantage of every day. Leading up to and during your first few weeks of college, countless people will inevitably tell you about all the different experiences you’ll have during your four years, like boring classes, scary professors, parties, Greek life, and intramural sports. What a lot of people tend to leave out are the tiny, everyday moments that seem so forgettable as they are happening, but end up becoming cherished memories.
Here are 4 of the most unforgettable, small moments that everyone should experience in college.
1. The first time you really connect with one of your new friends.
Freshman year, you tend to have a lot of acquaintances and people you are just friends with because they were the first people you could find who seemed nice. The most amazing feeling is when you actually get to know one of those new people and discover just how similar you are. This may happen because of a random partner assignment in class, a service project, or when you’re awkwardly left alone with a person and have no choice but to talk to them. Maybe, if you’re like me, you’ll find yourself sitting on your dorm room floor at midnight, sharing a grapefruit on a random Thursday with a new friend, telling each other your life stories and feeling totally comfortable with each other. Beautiful friendships have risen from some of the weirdest circumstances.
2. The first time you eat lunch alone. Then, someone comes to join you.
At some point during college, you’re going to be hungry and all of your friends are going to be busy. You’re left with two choices: either don’t eat and be sad because you’re hungry all day or face the scary cafeteria alone. Sitting alone during a meal can lead to some great reflection time. College is often so busy that we rarely get time to ourselves. When you eat alone, you're forced to be your own friend and check up on how you feel about your life at the moment. Furthermore, sometimes, someone may even come and sit with you when they see you sitting alone. There are few things better than experiencing someone reaching out to you and purposefully trying to make your day a little brighter.
3. The first time you have your heart broken.
College is filled with a lot of very happy moments, but it can also contains some bitter trials. Sometimes, things don’t work out the way we’d like them to. We may not get the job we were hoping for, we may not do well on a project we believed we had excelled at, or our hearts may be broken by someone we cared about very much. The pain of a romantic heartbreak is very real and very overwhelming. We may lose ourselves for a little while, trying to figure out what went wrong and find ways to make ourselves feel whole again. During this process of healing, we can discover the relentless strength of our own souls. Although it hurts, heartbreak can be the most beautiful experience we go through.
4. The first time you are forced to realize that God is all you have, and He is truly all you need.
The most important lesson I’ve learned in college so far is that God will always be with me, will never forsake me, and He knows what He’s doing. There have been times that have rocked me to my core, where I felt alone and felt as though no one could help me. I felt lost. The first time this happened, during my freshman year, I visited the chapel. I knelt down, and just started crying uncontrollably. At first, the tears were from sadness, but as I looked up at the crucifix and saw Jesus gazing at me, they were from how overwhelmingly great His love felt. At that moment, I knew I was not alone, and I never would be. This was the most unforgettable realization I had freshman year, and I hope, if nothing else, everyone will be able to have a moment like this at some point during their time in college.