For college students past, present, and future, freshman move-in day probably was or will be one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking days of your life. For most, it's your first time living without your parents and within walking distance of thousands of people your age, and your first chance to get a real taste of independence. That jump from the structure of high school to the freedom of college can also be a huge culture shock--it's a whole new environment that you'll have to learn to navigate essentially on your own, and it won't always be easy. If I were given the chance to go back to my freshman move-in day right now, I would take these five sentiments with me so I wouldn't have to learn them again the hard way:

1. It will be completely different from what you expect it to be

If you’re anything like me, you had a lot of ideas of how your college experience was going to go. Ideally, it would be a constant stream of new friends and wild parties, you would make tons of deep, long-lasting bonds with new friends, and you would date lots of different, interesting people. People tend to think of college as a wondrous place full of minimal responsibility and an endless flow of cheap alcohol. The reality of it is that college can be hard. No matter how good of a student you are, there will be times when classes get so overwhelming that you’ll feel like giving up. No matter how much you love your school, there will be times when you wonder if you would have been happier or better off somewhere else.

No matter how many friends you make, there will be times when you miss your family, or your friends from home and times when you just straight up feel alone. You will make mistakes and you will go through periods of time that are better or worse than others. It’s not only an unrealistic expectation, but it’s also impossible to be 100 percent happy with your situation all the time—the point is to take the lows with the highs and learn from the mistakes you make along the way. More likely than not, your college experience won't be exactly what you wanted. In fact, it probably won't even get close, but it has the potential to be even better than you thought it could be.

2. Find out what is available to you

If you come to college without much or any preexisting knowledge of life on campus, the beginning of your freshman year will probably be very overwhelming. You’ll most likely end up at the orientation activities fair getting harassed by extremely enthusiastic upperclassman who will somehow talk you into signing up for no less than 50 clubs (which will then spam your listserv until graduation day), or you won’t sign up for anything because you’re too hesitant to commit to anything so early on. The problem is that there's a strong possibility that you'll regret your indecision later when you realize that rush happens almost immediately after you arrive, or that tryouts for club sports and a capella groups start right after the first day of classes—and these early deadlines can pass you by before you know it. It would have been so helpful for me if I had taken the time to browse the extensive list of extracurricular activities my school offers and formed a loose idea of what I might be interested in, so I could have wasted less time considering my options and more time ~living it up~ during my first few weeks as a college student.

3. Don’t say no! Be open to new experiences

In high school, my only knowledge of Greek life was what I had gathered from Legally Blonde. If you had asked me three years ago if I was going to be rushing a sorority one day, I wouldn’t have thought twice about saying no. Flash forward to now and I can’t imagine my time in college without joining a sorority—and that sentiment extends well beyond Greek life. Join that weird club you’re on the fence about, study abroad, go to all the events you can possibly attend, participate in all the cheesy activities that are offered to you, and—most importantly—try things that are outside of your comfort zone. The things that you least expect to enjoy might end up being the sources of your best memories. The best part is that you’ll either love it and stick with it, or hate it and have the option to move on. You’re never going to have so many fun and exciting no-risk opportunities in one place again, so you should take full advantage of it while you have the chance.

4. Don’t waste your first year of credits on filler classes

Like many other freshmen, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to major in when I started college, so I filled my schedule with classes that my hall mates and friends were taking so I would always have someone to sit next to. Today, as a rising senior, I regret that I missed my chance to take a lot of classes that I would have actually been interested in. There are subjects that I wanted to and could have explored if I had considered my options beyond just those first two semesters. I'm not saying that you shouldn’t consider recommendations from friends and take random classes that sound fun and exciting, but I am saying that you should make sure that you’re taking them because YOU want to and not simply because you know people in them and you’re unsure of what else to take. Plus, if you’re not even remotely interested in a subject, it’s going to be a lot more difficult to do well in the class! If you have absolutely no idea what kinds of classes you want to take, at least try to get your general requirements out of the way early on and take courses that are versatile and can be used for a variety of majors so you’re not regretting your choices a couple years down the road.

5. It will be over before you know it

The phrase that we’ve all heard from not only everyone, but also their mother: “Enjoy the next four years because they’ll be the best years of your life.” As many times as the sentiment is presented to you, it’s impossible to fully understand just how incredible your time as a college student is going to be. For most people, college is the only time in your entire life where you will have the freedom to do essentially whatever you want without dealing with most of the pressures and immense responsibilities that comes with adulthood and the dreaded "real world." Take it from me, I’ve wasted too much of my college career waiting for life to finally turn into what I had always expected it to be, but in reality I've spent so much time stressing about the fact that college wasn't what I thought it should be that I've just been missing out on what it actually is—a series of unexpected events that form an overall chapter of my life, all of which have lead me to become somebody who is overall better, stronger, and more self-aware than I was when I graduated high school. So enjoy your college experience for what it is, nothing more and nothing less. These four years go by far too quickly and they truly can be some of the best years of your life, but only as long as you allow them to be.