After completing my first semester of college, I have learned that it isn't always what you expect.

1. School work sneaks up on you.

Unlike high school where there always seemed to be a constant flow of work to keep you occupied, the work load in college sporadic. Sometimes there are entire weeks that go by when you have nothing do. This does mean however that there are also weeks in which you have four exams all at the same time. In college, it’s easy to forget that this is the case and to spend those lighter weeks doing nothing. But doing so means that you are woefully unprepared when one of those much harder weeks rolls around. In order to stay on top of your school work in college, you have to make it a priority, and force yourself to do work even when you know it might not be due the next day.

2. Not every moment is adventure filled.

All of us have been told for as long as we can remember that college is one of the best times in someone’s life. While this might be true, they might have forgotten to mention that this doesn’t necessarily mean that every moment in action packed. Most of us are in college for a reason, and the truth is that school and homework generally aren’t all that exciting. While you will definitely get to have great times, don’t be surprised when you have to spend a day doing homework instead of going exploring.

3. Everyone’s college experience is different.

With how easy it is to learn about other people’s lives due to social media, it is not incredibly easy to compare our own college experiences with our friends. But everything is not always as it seems, social media always makes things look better than they truly are (no one posts about the long nights where they studied or watched Netflix). Even though it might be tempting, nothing good will come out of comparing your own experiences to those of others. Everyone has a different college experience and just because yours is not the same as one of your friends, doesn’t mean that it is any less meaningful or fun.

4. It’s over before you know it.

Maybe it is because you spent less of your time physically in class or because we get out a couple weeks earlier for winter break, but time in college seems to just fly by. This first semester seemed like it just started to me, and once I blinked my eyes, it was over. So make the most out of your time in college because it might be over before you know it.