Before I started my college career, I knew it all. I knew what was out there and I already had all the experience I needed from life. Turns out, I was wrong. Here are just 5 main things I have learned so far in my college experience.

Home cooked meals are how I stayed in shape.

I always wondered how I managed to stay skinny and in shape in high school. I figured out it’s because a midnight trip to a fast food restaurant wasn’t an option.

My mom is actually my best friend.

My mom used to be the bad guy who never let me do anything. Now she’s seems like the only one on my side sometimes. She gives the best advice and she always has the right answer. The older I get, the more like my mom I become and I’m okay with that.

There are many other people out there.

In high school many think that’s where their circle stops growing. Once you start college, on the other hand, your circle dramatically expands. College is a whole different world full of many different people. If you can’t find your ‘group’ before college, have no fear, college harbors every kind of person you can think of.

I was doing my makeup wrong.

I will always cringe when I see old pictures of myself without shaded in eyebrows and eye makeup that’s too thick and too dark. What was I thinking?

There’s more freedom.

You can eat candy for supper, you can sleep all day, you don’t have to ask permission from anyone, you don’t answer to anyone, and though it's highly recommended, you also don’t have to go to class either. College is a pre-adult world where you get a taste of what life without parents is like. And although it sounds fun—and it is, we still miss home and crave direction and instructions.

The point is, once you think you have learned everything and you know all that there is to know, step into the college world. College has taught me many things that I will carry with myself for the rest of my life. And the best part is, I’m not even done.