Welcome to civilian life, soldier. AHEM, "military brat." So, college. You’ve made it! Congratulations. This is a huge change. Luckily for you, military kids are known to be pretty darn flexible regarding change. In fact, you probably embrace change, right? Well, okay, maybe not. You’re surrounded by change on a daily basis, so maybe you try to hang on to what doesn’t absolutely haveto change. I know I do that. But change can be a fantastic thing. College can be one of those fantastic changes, you know. I’ve gone through a year of college. Woah. That came and went quickly. Believe me, it flies. You get busy and suddenly it’s over. Then three more years. Anyway, that’s not what I’m here to talk about. You probably want to get to the actual meat of this article, right? Well, here’s FIVE things you need to expect or know or whatever about college (as a military kid). Wrap up in your woobie and let’s get started.

1. Okay, so you’ve made it to your university of choice. Yay! This is where the fun begins! Sadly, there’s probably not a very high chance that this university of choice is placed right next to a military base. I know, I know. You have an ID that lets you on base. But if there’s no base to be let on, well…that can be kind of hard. My university’s nearest base is a reserves training facility and it really isn’t a base. There’s no gate guards *gasp*! Sadly, this means your weekly trips to the commissary and PX are going to be nonexistent. Walmart is your new commissary. Learn to love it. There’s no shame in shopping at Walmart no matter what people might say about it. As a college student, “cheap” is your new best friend. Think about it as the commissary’s thrice removed cousin.

2. So this brings me to my next point. Vocabulary. You’ve been raised in the military. Yeah, I get that. This means there’s a lot of words you use and hear on an everyday basis that your new battle buddies won’t understand. At all. Best bet: they probably don’t know what a woobie, commissary, PX, PCS, (etc.etc.etc.) is. You’re going to have to tone it down a bit on the military lingo at first. But after they get used to these words, use them all the time. Make them convert. Make them love the military. Do it. Tell them you won’t be friends with them if they don’t talk like you. Just kidding. That’s actually really mean.

3. At this point you might be thinking: woah, hey, college is basically a military base. I mean, there’s people from all over the country and world and it’s basically this campus full of people of different ethnicities , cultures, backgrounds, and experiences…pffft there’s no difference. Okay, true, there’s DIVERSITY at college. But, no, it’s really not like a military base. You’re going to have to get used to the way things work. It’s not like back “home” (I use that word lightly. You know why). But it’s safe to say you’ve just added an extra PCS that the rest of your family hasn’t. That’s pretty cool. When people ask where you’re from, just give them the list and how many times you’ve moved. It’s fun to see their shocked reactions (especially of those who have never ever even left the state your university is in).

4. People, AHEM, civilians (which we supposedly are, but we don’t talk about that) will more than likely have misconceptions about military life and soldiers and airmen and marines and sailors and you’re going to have to set them straight. Or, you know, regale them with tales of your PCS horror stories and brag about living in places like Hawaii or, better yet, Japan or Germany. You’ll make a few “friends” just because of your background. People aren’t used to this sort of lifestyle and they enjoy learning about it. Please feel free to talk about your experiences—and make sure you listen to theirs. Civilian life is fascinating and altogether sort of terrifying. Not moving every year or so?

5. You are not alone! I keep finding more peers somehow connected to the military at my university. It’s so cool. Sometimes somebody will hear you list off all the places you’ve lived and then tell their friend about you because their friend is a fellow military brat. BAM. New military brat friend. Or somebody will listen to you talking about this one place you lived and it turns out they lived there too and you know some of the same people you do. Small world? Yeah, you’re used to that. Remember, it’s not always to find out who the other military brats are because we’re known to be pretty darn adaptable. We know how to blend in. We have lots of experience with that. BUT THERE’S MORE OUT THERE JUST LIKE YOU. Don’t worry.

Last of all (this is my conclusion, though it could technically be made into a point…I just thought five was a nice number for a list, so yeah):

YOU. ARE. GOING. TO. DO. FANTASTICALLY.

Like I said just about four lines up, military kids are excellent adapters and most of us welcome change as an exciting new adventure. We embrace the unknown and stand brave because that’s what our parents do every single day. You might get homesick for military life—the familiar sight of combat uniforms, the sound of Taps playing on the speakers, and gate guards welcoming you home after a jaunt off base, but you’ll be back someday. And, honestly, you might not even be coming back to the same base. Your family might PCS while you’re at university.

But, you know, that just makes for a new adventure.