Graduating high school is a big part of growing up which means entering a whole new part of your life. It means no more strict teachers and no more going to class every day. It's a summer full of fun nights and some you won't remember when you wake up in the morning. A time when you get to sleep all day or crack down to find a job. Three months...three months is all you have until you have to get back to the school grind. You may be nervous and you may not be ready to leave the room you've lived in for 18 years or home cooked meals on the weekends, but be excited. Be excited to meet new people and be excited about living on your own. College is scary but the fun that you'll have will make you forget about how scary the real world is.
Moving in is tough because you don't know where you're going or who your roommate will be. You know absolutely nobody and that's the worst part. When you're finally all moved in and you've set up your room the way you want it, it's time for freshman activities. You've met your roommate by now so you both try to stick together until you find people who can relate to how you're feeling. By the time the activities are over and classes start the following week you notice that all the people you met at orientation and move-in day are in all of your classes. Awesome, you have people to sit by and feel comfortable about, that's a plus.
Things get easier the longer you're at school. You make a ton more friends because you either play a sport and have to be friends with your teammates or you join a club and do fun activities every weekend. The minute you actually get a break it's time to try going to a fraternity party. You and your girlfriends try to dress older so more people will talk to you or for guys they just try to smell nice and practice not being idiots when talking to girls. Every college or university is different some parties end at 2 and others go all night, but the most important part is to be safe...oh and have fun too of course. Don't be a "party pooper" and ruin everyone else's experience but don't shy away from playing mom/dad either. Both are roles that everyone should learn how to play. When the night is over and you've either drank too much or not enough, you get to wake up the next morning and go out to eat with your friends and have a free day of nothing but Netflix and sleeping because you won't have your parents standing over your bed at 9 a.m. asking you to get up and do your chores. You can enjoy Friday night football games again like you did in high school, only this time it's more intense. You get to watch sports that you never had in high school, swim meets, lacrosse, even rugby. You're able to go wherever you want and have as much fun as you can while you're still young... but don't forget about the inside of your chemistry book because even late nights at the library drinking coffee or energy drinks with your best friends are memories you wish to have for the rest of your life.
It's okay to be nervous about going to college and it's okay to not want to go back even after you've finished a few years of it. Just never forget to be excited. Excited about new beginnings, meeting new people, and for me moving in with my best friends. It's the memories you want to be excited to go back for, just don't forget you have to pass your classes so you can get your degree.
