You’d never expect a year to go by so fast till you get to freshman year of college. Of course, you’ve worked all of high school to get into a certain school, and you’ve heard your older second cousins talk about how amazing it all is, but because it’s all talk, you just hype it up in your head and keep on with your life. Then senior prom rolls around, graduation, summer vacation, orientation, who knows maybe the universe made those words rhyme for a reason, but as soon as you know it your'e sitting in a big lecture room on your first day of college classes, excited, yet very, very nervous. To all of you who haven’t been to college yet, it will change your life, for the obvious reasons and the not so obvious reasons. But, by the time you reach your last weeks of Freshman year you realize something important, no matter how many mistakes you made, regretting them isn’t going to help, rather learning from them and making fewer of the same mistakes in the future is what will set you on track into becoming, as us college students like to say, a “real person,” because we all know that college students aren’t real people. We are weird creatures living in our own little bubbles that survive on a combination of caffeine, alcohol, stress, sexual tension, anxiety and sometimes a genuine love of each other and the different bubbles around us. And hey, maybe that’s what being a real person is all about, but don’t talk to us about that yet because we wouldn’t know and it gives us a lot of anxiety. But listen carefully, Freshman year of college is a one-time thing, there are no repeats, no “try again” buttons, and no get out of jail free cards, you have to grab the bull by the sack and try to steer it where you want it to go as best as you can, but remember the bull is forever unpredictable and that’s what makes freshman year so unique and amazing.

When you pull up to the first day of college, I almost guarantee you’ll need to pee as soon as you step out of the car and you won’t have an appetite even if people are shoving brownies at you, it’s just one of the most nerve-racking hours in your life cause the uncertainty of what is or is not going to happen is so high. Your car is packed with all the belongings you own in almost the entire world, you don’t know anyone, other than maybe a couple kids from your high school and on top of that you barely even know where you are. The first couple months of freshman year are an interesting social experiment. Especially the first couple weeks, everyone is pretty much nice to everyone, because who knows who you’ll end up being friends with and who you’ll end up hating. The first week is all smiles, you probably meet hundreds of different people, and are sick of introducing yourself and feel embarrassed that you don’t remember anyone’s name, because it all blends into a huge jumble of names in your head. At this point, you’re still careful because you don’t know who to trust and you haven’t started wearing your roommate’s cloths, because let’s face it, you’re not that close yet.

You start getting close with the people in your residence hall, the people in your classes, and the people you see again and again around campus randomly, whether it’d be at the gym or at the dining hall, if you keep bumping into each other I would take it as a sign and immediately introduce yourself because that could easily be your new best friend. Slowly yet surely you start to find a group of people you really enjoy talking to and being around, a group of people that will sweat with you at a frat party and watch movies with you on rainy days, the kind of people that will know you for not even a month and get you chicken noodle soup when you have the freshman plague, the people that will take care of you when you’re drunk and hangover, and sometimes simultaneously. These are the people that really matter, if you come across them, keep them and don’t let them go, but also don’t get too clingy, crazy or weird, because they will drop you like a fly if they get a repetitive bad vibe. And that’s the wonderful thing about college, you make your own decisions, you aren’t forced to be friends with someone you don’t want to associate yourself with, and trust me if you feel forced to be friends with someone you don’t necessarily get along with you’re doing something wrong. College is all about independence and freedom, don’t let anyone take that away from you.

First semester is one big fat happy mess, from making new friends, having a new home, getting used to new food, adjusting to college class life, football games, tailgates, day parties, frat parties, alcohol, weird sleep schedules, studying for big exams and writing long ass papers, everything is new, some things might be challenging, but don’t be scared or intimidated, tackle everything with a smile. You will learn so many new things during such a short span of time, your roommate will teach you how to do your own laundry, the internet will teach you how to get rid of a cold, your RA will help you register for classes, your professors will teach you what they want you to know (hopefully), sorority girls will mingle with you, you’re friends will show you how to drop it like it’s hot, frat boys will teach you how to shotgun a beer, you will be a free soul, a clean canvas that slowly becomes a work of art.

After a much needed winter break, that at times will feel too long, you come back ready as ever to start college again with a little more confidence and a little more ego. Seasons change, it was fall, now it’s winter, it gets unbearably cold and snowy, you get to that point when you never want to get up from the chair or bed you’re currently sitting in, not even to pee or to eat. You start getting sick of it, sick of the work, sick of the parties, sick of the people, your stuck in the same routine, an ongoing loop, until you realize that it’s actually coming to an end and soon you will no longer be the youngest, coolest, most naïve people on campus, so you get off your lazy butt and start to make every last second count. You approach the the last week of classes and finally don’t take everything for granted anymore, because you know that everything’s going to change the next year, and all you once knew will become memories, pictures stuck on Facebook walls and under the “tbt” hashtag on Instagram.

The moral of the story is, don’t waste your time, get up, go out, meet people, be uncomfortable, but not too uncomfortable, challenge yourself, do some exploring and self searching, find your limits and your passions, question yourself, and trust me you will grow more in this year than any year before it. Most of all, be thankful, be thankful for your parents, who not only made you possible but pay an absurd amount of money for your education, thank your school for giving you opportunities, thank your professors, and thank your friends for always being there for you. Walk away from freshman year with smiles, tears, a no regrets. I can’t stress this enough, it goes by so damn fast, make every second count, make every encounter worthwhile.