For all incoming freshman, I must say that college can be tough. Between the stress of school and relationships you have with others, sometimes you can feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Believe me, it is hard to go through some things while being away at school, especially if this is the first time being away from home. So, to all you fearful freshmen out there, I have some great news: you will never have to go through college alone. No matter how often you think otherwise, there are always people in your life that will be there for you.
There are five types of people you will have a relationship with that can celebrate the good and help you through the bad.
1. Roommates
Obviously, the people who are living with you will have an impact on you. Whether you chose random or you’re bunking with friends from home, they will have an impact on you, positively or negatively. After the year is over, you could be best friends or sworn enemies. If all goes well, they will be there to support you through the drama of being a college freshman. If you failed a test or had a bad date, your roommates are people to fall back on. Or they could be the reason you’re sleeping next door every weekend. They could be keeping you up into the wee hours of the night when you have an 8:30 a.m. class the next morning. To all incoming freshmen, I have to say that you’re not always going to get along with your roommates. There will be arguments, but everything will be fine, and you may become best friends and live together again. If not, then you have three more years of college, so you are definitely able to find another roommate for the upcoming years.
2. Parents/Guardians
Behind roommates, the people who will have an impact on you during your first year away from home will be the people who raised you. On move-in day, they might cry, and you might be telling them they are embarrassing you, but it’s hard to let someone go who has been living with you for 18 years. You freshmen might even return the favor by calling them late at night over stress from school. I know I have multiple times. School can be hard, and who else would you go to than those who have been there for hard times your whole life? They love you to death and will do anything for you to be happy, like sending you care packages and text messages that keep you going through the difficulties of living on your own. Mothers, fathers, siblings, relatives and other relatives are the people who will always be there for you, and that doesn’t change, even if you’re away from home.
3. Friends from Home
When you go to school, you can’t help but stay in touch with your friends from home. You are definitely going to be talking to them a lot because you are thrown into a new situation, and they are not there to be with you. Some may be across the country, but you still feel close to them. You’ll be telling them about classes and what it’s like at your school, and they’ll be doing the same thing. You hope to one day visit them during the year, and when that day comes, you are thrown back into a swarm of memories of high school. You reminisce about the glory days and then you go off to start some new memories. Things will be different between you and your friends from home. There may be a distance between you and your friends because you don’t see them everyday, but that is perfectly fine because your best friends are not going anywhere. These are the ones who you will see every day when you both are home from school and will text you everyday how school is going. They will tease you about going on dates and be the ones who will fit in well with friends from school. Those best friends are the ones you will hang on to for the rest of your life and will be a big part of freshman year because they will help you adjust and settle down, even if they are miles away at their own schools.
4. Friends at School
Believe it or not, you will make friends at school, whether they are roommates you have, students in your dorm, or people you meet in your classes. These are the people you will spend every Friday and Saturday night with, as well as your time in the library during the week. These are the people who you make intramural teams with and do crazy things with. Even though the friendships will still be budding since it is only your first year, you will realize that they will be with you for a long time. They will be the people you go to when you are down and who you’ll be hanging out with talking until the early morning after a great Friday night. In my opinion, my school friends are some of my best friends I have ever had. You’ll make inside jokes, and you’ll feel like siblings. You won’t have the same relationship with them as your home friends, but you will be close to them. So close that you will cry when you leave for the year, visit each other in the summer and be excited to see them the next year. They might even become your roommates the next year.
5. Professors
You’ll love some and despise others. Some might make you love your major or declare another. Your professors are your key to loving school because your classes are the reason you are attending college. During my freshman year, I had some professors I wish I could have again and, when I see them around campus, I say hello and have a conversation with them. You might have one that becomes your mentor and friend that will help you strive for the career you want. These teachers will make the class you have with them more interesting, and instead of going from the textbook, they make the class fun by telling stories and getting to know the students while at the same time having the students learn. The teachers you have will make you enjoy school because it won’t feel like school because it won’t be traditional learning through lecture. Professors will determine if you enjoy school or if you are miserable during your freshman year. A word of advice to incoming freshmen: be nice to your professors because they have the power to make your college experience terrible. On a lighter note, professors love when you visit them if you are having trouble with their class and recommend you to stop by their office whenever you want because they will not turn you away. They all know they are there to help you and are glad to because they only want you to succeed.
From what I can take from my freshman year, my enjoyment came from each of these groups' impact on me. I was helped by each of them in order to create a year that I will remember forever, filled with memories that I think of and smile to this very day. I had my share of bad moments, but each of them was able to make me smile and forget my troubles. I can’t help but thank everyone because the impact they made was definitely a good one. To those who think that they are not going to have a good freshman year, I would like to say that you are going to have an excellent freshman year. There will be people in your life that fit in one of these categories that will make you happy that you are in college.
