One of the hardest parts of my first semester were all the distractions. New friends, freedom, and scenery. It's hard to keep your head on straight with all of the adjusts you'll have to make. Here is a list of things that will surely make the distractions a little easier to handle.
1. Friends.
You will NEED them. Usually the people you meet right away will not be your friends still at the end of the semester. It's important to pick friends that share common interests. You'll need a solid support system. Just tuck that in the back of you head when you start meeting tons of new and different people.
2. You're NOT going to fail.
You might study really hard for your first biology test and still fail. It's totally fine. Have a good cry and go to office hours, talk it out. Get familiar with all your professors, they love helping out a struggling student,
3. You don't need to know everything.
There is a lot of pressure to know your major and go for it. If you do know, go for it. If you don't, take it slow, at least half of the people you'll meet will have no idea what they want to be either.
4. Eat right.
You're classes probably wont allow you a lot of time during the day to eat and no one wants to wake up before an 8 am and walk to the dining hall. Remember that if you get a doughnut for breakfast and then eat a cheeseburger for dinner, you aren't doing any good for yourself. Eat protein and make sure your active. It can be easy to slip into bad eating habits.
5. Go to class.
Even if its a review session for something you are very confident in, just go. You never know what kind of extra credit opportunities could come up. Also, professors like seeing you in class, because after all, that's part of the reason they show up.
6. Journal.
I know it seems dumb, but personal reflection is important when you're going through a big change.
7. Have FUN and RELAX.
College is so much fun. Don't study all the time, make sure you have some time out. If you spend all your time in the library, you aren't getting the full experience. Just be sure give yourself alone time. At the end of your first semester it might feel like your life in falling in on itself, take a hot bath and read a fun book. It goes a long way.
8. Don't be stupid, buy a PLANNER.
Just do it. You don't want to be the student who doesn't turn in a paper because they forgot it was the due date. It's super embarrassing.
I know I struggled with these things a lot, but if you set your mind to it, you can do anything.
