I wake up early. My tired, hopeful eyes open and I'm ready for this new path my life is going in. I bring the boxes out to the car. I place the last of my things in the trunk and close the hatch. I climb into the front seat, fasten my seatbelt, and I am ready to go. I take one last glimpse of my house before my Mom drives away.

We drive for a long while. Then I see it, the red balloons and the excited faces. So many people around helping us feel welcome. My anxiety makes me unable to get out of the car for just a moment. I realize I've been waiting for this day for months and this is the time. I carry all my belongings inside. Of course, I packed too much, I just wanted to make sure it felt like home. I say my goodbyes to my family and try not to watch them leave, I knew I would have that memory burned in my mind.

Orientation starts and you can tell everyone is doing their best to make the new students comfortable and excited. Yet you can still spot a freshman from a mile away. The nervous faces, the campus maps, and the anxious way they are looking around trying to find the right building. I was one of those people. Once I started getting the hang of things, I began to feel better. My roommate and I started getting into our favorite habits of movie nights and gossiping. I met one of my best friends and we went on drives through all hours of the night just talking about life. I couldn't imagine a better start to this new life that's in front of me.

As I continued through the year it had its ups and downs. From lots of late nights doing homework and studying, to lots of late nights being crazy teenagers, I really had it all. But I should've taken advantage of it. As a freshman, everything is new and exciting and the whole world is at your fingertips. You make friends that will ride with you for the rest of your life. You will meet friends that are there through the stressful, ice cream eating, breakup moments. The friends that will be there at your worst, when you're homesick and stressed. But most of all, they will also be there for the happy, yellow, carefree, wild moments as you head through the rest of college together.

Make lifelong friends. Go on crazy adventures. Fall in love. Stop to smell the roses. Be crazy.

Because after all, that's what college is all about right.