As the school year comes closer to an end there are thousands (if not millions) of high school seniors who can think of nothing other than graduation and going off to college. This was me not even a year ago, sitting in my room spending hours watching YouTube videos on things such as dorm room hauls, dorm room tours, or the infamous “things I wish I knew before college.” I thought for sure I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes that all of these people made, but the truth is college is college and you’re meant to make mistakes.

This all being said, I think it is important to embrace our mistakes and share the lessons that each one taught us. So, to all the seniors who think they’re ready to take on college and all the college students who are learning lessons much like these daily, here’s the list of the top ten most important lessons my first year of college taught me. It’s not a full list, but it’ll get you started. They’re not all major, but each is important in its own way.

1. It’s okay to eat alone.

In high school, most people have that “clique” or friend group they eat with every single day. Well, in college everyone is on a vastly different schedule and that means a lot of times you’ll find yourself rushing into the closest dining hall or eating location to pick up a quick meal before running off to work, the library, or your next class. It may seem a little uncomfortable the first couple of times, but after awhile you get used to the idea of eating alone or working on something while eating. This being said, take advantage of the chances you get to go and grab lunch with friends. Just don’t let it get you down when you have to eat alone, everyone does it, and trust me, sometimes you’ll want the alone time.

2. Don’t swim oceans for people who won’t jump puddles for you.

All right, I’m going to just come out and say it, those friends you make in the first two or so weeks that you “swear” you’ll be friends with thirty years from now, the majority of them won’t be in your life after freshman year, and sometimes not even after first semester. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is a true fact of life. College is for sure the place where you make friendships that will last a lifetime, but understand that they will come in time. Don’t waste your time sacrificing all of your time and energy for people who would never think of giving you the same respect. Also, trust me, you may think these are the only three or four people that understand you on this entire campus, but there are thousands of people on your campus and in time you’ll find your place and those lifelong friends you’ve been searching for.

3. Time management is an essential skill to have.

So, maybe this is one of those things that your parents and your high school teachers warned you about from the get go, but like almost every other college freshman you don't listen to them. For most people, it is the first time they have all this freedom, and it can be a little overwhelming from time to time. The “college experience” is always important to have and can even be fun from time to time, but it’s important to remember that you are a student first and everything else comes second. Finding a balance between time spent with friends, at sporting events, at parties, at meetings, in the library studying, and still being able to sleep may seem impossible, but with a little work, you’ll find a schedule that works out for you. Another big thing to remember is that sometimes this balance may mean giving up on something you really enjoy *cough* that party *cough*.

4. College is not what the movies make it out to be.

So this one may seem fairly obvious but coming into college every freshman has this idea of what college is and sometimes it meets up to the hype, but most times it falls drastically short of the mark. The thing about movies is that they aren’t meant to show all the negative parts of it, they are there to show the fun and interesting parts of college (the parties and the late nights with friends).

Now, they aren’t completely wrong because this is a part of college, sometimes a rather large part of it, but there are a lot of things they left out. For instance, you can’t skip all of your classes and expect to get the grades your parents are expecting of you. Also, while it may seem like college students in movies don’t have a lot of on their plate the truth is there’s always going to be a lot of expectations that you have to meet up with. Between your parents, your professors, your friends, and even yourself that puts a lot of pressure on you sometimes. Just take each moment at a time and enjoy the roller coaster ride that is college.

5. Studying with friends, while it seems like a good idea, is not always the best idea.

Let me preface this one by saying that if you are in the same class and have similar ways of studying, study buddies can actually be pretty helpful. Any other time, though, you more than likely will not be productive. I, for one, know that I love people which means I love talking, especially with my friends.

For me, that means that when I’m studying with friends it can be exceedingly hard for me to focus and get work done because there always seems to be some random story one of you has to tell that you didn’t remember until you just started writing a paper for English that’s due the next morning. Something else important to remember is that not everyone studies the same and during finals week everyone is going to be more stressed than usual.

This being said, if you work well with others and it helps you go for it, but if you are like me and are easily distracted lock yourself away and spend a couple hours intensely studying somewhere quiet where there aren’t a lot of people.

6. Procrastination is a thing.

Okay, so this is probably another one of those obvious ones that you experienced in high school, but procrastination is about a thousand times worse in college. With freedom comes decisions and a lot of times those decisions involve whether or not to do homework or go out with friends.

The answer to that question eleven times out of ten will be to go out with your friends. This means you find yourself in a random study lounge or library until the wee hours of the morning. Procrastination is a part of college that most people won’t tell you about because they want you to think they have it all together and that it all comes naturally, but I’m here to tell you that is a complete and utter lie.

At one point or another, we will all find ourselves writing that ten-page research paper the night before or finishing up a presentation five minutes before class starts. It’s just one of those “college” moments that you learn to live with and stress out over and regret the day after. Cherish the times you get to be with friends, but learn that sometimes it is better to find yourself spending more than a couple of minutes cranking out a paper in the library.

7. You won’t always be best friends with your first-year roommate.

I, like a lot of other naive freshmen, fell into this trap of believing that my roommate would become my best friend. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against my roommate and I would consider us friends, but she is not the first person I go to when I’m upset or the first person I think of when something great happens to me. Let’s be real, for most people you either are going the route of random assignment or finding someone via the internet.

For some, both of these methods work wonders, but there’s a lot that a conversation over texts can’t tell you. For example, how messy or clean they are, exactly how late they stay up at night, or how similar your interests really are. My freshman year living experience has been far from horrible, but I can honestly say that there are very few occasions that my roommate and I hang out outside of our room. It’s nothing against her but we are different people and it took coming to college for me to realize this.

8. Getting out of your comfort zone can lead to unforgettable memories.

For my entire life I have lived in the same small town. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it didn’t always allow for me to have opportunities to step out of the comfort of the box I generally found myself in. College changed all of that for me. There was no longer friends that I’ve known since I was three years old to hide behind or the fact that my school didn’t offer that particular kind of club.

Whether it may be in just going over to someone in a large lecture class and starting a conversation or finding yourself at a house party that you never thought you’d actually go to. In each of these instances you learn more about who you are, and in the process, you can make some pretty great friends and some unforgettable memories.

9. Not everyone grows up after high school.

For most people, you go to college with this mindset that it is going to be completely different from high school and in one summer everyone has put behind the silliness that was high school drama. Well, unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. It is sad to say but a lot of times people are so accustomed to being one thing throughout high school that, that’s what they stick with in college.

News flash, no one here cares that you were voted prom queen senior year. When you get to college everyone is similar in so many ways, so where you once may have been “the best” there will be someone better than you. I’m not saying this in a rude way, but it’s just a truth that so many people refuse to accept in college and it leads to a lot more issues than necessary. College is a time to learn more about who you truly are, don’t fight it by trying to hold onto the past.

10. You’ll look back and notice that the small things are actually the big things.

If there is one thing that this year taught me more than anything else is that those little moments that you probably feel are insignificant will one day become the big things. From the chance encounter you had with that person in one of your lectures your first semester can end up leading to a lifelong friendship, or cheering your team on from the last row of the risers can end up leading to you cheering them on as they play in a national championship game.

Of course, you had no role in the fact that your team won the natty, but you will always remember the small details about the moment when the other team’s fate was sealed by a last-second dunk. While you may never remember all of the formulas needed for calculus, you will always remember the people who stood by your side as you stood for 24 hours straight for an incredible cause. The beauty is in the details, so embrace them and let them become the shining stars.