I’ve completed two and a half years of college and learned unforgettable lessons along the way. Each experience and person I’ve met have helped me become who I am today. Here are five of the biggest lessons I’ve learned so far!

1. Experience is how you learn and always have fun

I studied abroad in Croatia the summer after my freshman year of college, and one of my professors, Stasa, said something I’ll never forget: “Experience is how you learn and always have fun.” In that moment, I decided not to continue varsity basketball and to travel to Italy. I felt free and worked abroad in Genoa the following summer.

Experience is invaluable and each is truly unique. So many of my friends have come back from co-op and exclaimed about how much more they learned while interning compared to in the classroom. Textbooks can only teach so much; when you’re forced to quickly adapt on the job in a hands-on environment, incredible lessons are learned and not easily forgotten.

Drake once rapped, “Moment I stop having fun with it, I’ll be done with it.” Life isn’t going to be fun at all times, but if an endeavor or activity consistently makes you unhappy, you should instead invest your time in something that does. There’s only 24 hours in the day -- devote your energy to movements that you care about and fulfill you.

2. Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end

I was in a burger joint in South Carolina when I heard a man say the above quote to his girlfriend. The lesson has stuck with me ever since, and I later learned that the statement originally came from John Lennon. Another quote from the movie, "17 Again," supports the same concept, “When you’re young, everything feels like the end of the world. But it’s not, it’s just the beginning.”

Life presents obstacles, both big and small. These obstacles may seem unconquerable and like the world is crashing down in that moment, but the sun will always rise the next day. Your plan is not always your plan, but often times things work out better than you ever could have imagined and how they were meant to be.

3. The power of stories

I’ve witnessed my fair share of presentations in college thus far and learned valuable presentation tips like powerful visuals, minimal text, eye contact with the audience and so on. Nothing, however, captures someone’s attention like a story. A good story will convince someone better than a logical argument.

Humans have been telling stories since the beginning of time. Stories can take thousands of different forms and tap into each of the five senses. They make concepts relatable, communicate lessons and paint vivid pictures in our minds. Take every opportunity and create stories of your own.

4. Know your strengths and role on a team

My dad was the coach of my basketball team growing up and always said that our team had no superstars on it -- that everyone had a specific role to play. We had to know our roles in order to help the team succeed as a whole.

The idea of roles was further brought to my attention this past fall when I attended a summit in Florida that focused on strength-finding. It’s incredibly useful to know what you excel at when entering a team setting.

Some people are great at influencing others with their public speaking skills, others have competition in their blood and thrive when they strive to achieve their goals, and some are in their element when they’re developing a vision. Everyone has their own set of strengths that ignite a fire in their souls while they’re being utilized.

5. Take risks and open yourself up

It’s so important to put yourself out there, even though it’s not easy. Apply to your dream job even though the hire rate is extremely low. Apply to as many as you can. You truly never know. The biggest risks have the biggest rewards.

Vulnerability is beautiful. Go out on a limb and tell that someone how you feel about them. No matter how it works out, it’s always better to definitively know than to always wonder what could’ve been; And hey, maybe they feel the same way. Take a chance, and “have no ragrets, not even a letter.”