As my freshman year is coming to an end, I am sad to say goodbye to what has essentially been my life for the last nine months. From new friends and shambly nights to food adventures and 3 AM talks, this has been one of the best years of my life. However, there are a few things I wish I had known before it started:
1. Go up and talk to strangers. Besides a few awkward Facebook conversations when I started school in August, I knew no one. I felt like everybody else already knew each other on Day One, so I was scared to go up and talk to strangers. However, in reality, no one knew each other; it was all in my head. Every freshman is looking to make friends, so do not be afraid to start chatting it up with the girls across the hall or the boys upstairs!
2. A few bad grades are not the end of the world. College is a lot harder than high school. This is a fact! Thus, college classes are going to require a few extra hours of studying and more homework time. Along with the extra hours of work, everyone is going to get one (if not more than one) bad grade. Don't let this get you down because it happens to everyone and will not matter at all in the end. Additionally, though you may have been at the top of your class in high school, your new class will be made up of students that are academically similar to you. While you may not be at the top anymore, this does not make you any less smart. Sometimes, it is even better to be challenged. On my first math test, I got a D and freaked out that Vanderbilt was too hard of a school for me. However, as I started to go to office hours and improved my study skills, my grades improved greatly!
3. Pace yourself. For a lot of us, college is the first time we are parent-free and basically on our own. Therefore, having an abundance of alcohol and parties every weekend may seem overwhelming at the beginning. It is important to remember to pace yourself when it comes to drinking. Getting sick is never fun. Take your time and drink a lot of water; you can still have a lot of fun without being too drunk.
4. You are not the only one to get homesick. On the other side of the spectrum of being on your own, it is also the first time a lot of us have been away from our parents for a long period of time. I remember being more excited than sad when I said goodbye to my parents, and I really did not expect to miss them as much as I did. That being said, EVERYONE gets homesick. There is no reason to be embarrassed about missing mom and dad or even pets. I remember in November I would get so homesick but was too scared to tell anyone. However, I finally talked to my roommate about it and learned that she was feeling the same way. She lived a lot closer to home than I do, so we went to her house for the weekend and even just hanging out with her family helped me a ton and made me feel a lot better. Sometimes talking about it and realizing you are not alone is all it takes!
