Remember watching movies about college when you were younger? Do you remember how much fun it looked and how little stress and anxiety filled their souls? Well, apparently that was all an illusion. Don’t get me wrong, I love being in college. I met my best friends here and I have made so many great memories.

Still, these memories are traced with haunting exam stress, sleepless nights and scary professors. It’s a joyful, yet stressful time. It’s a time where you are find out who you truly are. It’s a time where your tear ducts are tired.

We can measure how far we are in the semester by how dead students look. Right now, midterms have either been taken or are slowly creeping up to students. Either way, we are halfway through the semester and need to remember to keep our heads up and why we are here.

Why are you in college?

It’s a very common question, one that most students get asked at some point. Some reply with “Because I want to further my education” or “I really just want to party.” Either way, these answers aren’t fully true. They have a sense of truth to them but in order to really know why someone is in college, we need to get to the crux of that student’s soul. In order for that student to succeed, they need to understand for themselves why they are here. They need to see the true reason for themselves.

We have media, parents and professors all telling us why we need to go to college but students all can’t have the same reason. One student may be in college because they wanted to provide a better future for their family. Another student may want to be in college so they can help find a cure to a disease that a family member has. You can view this as maybe extreme examples but for some students, this is their extreme life.

We are in college to become a better version of ourselves by expanding our knowledge through experiences.

We learn from our classes and from “Thirsty Thursdays.” Surprised that you can learn from alcohol related experiences? College is about learning from experiences.

We will be able to look back and see what great memories we made and how much fun we had but also how much more equipped we are to take on the future, how great those professional connections we made are and how much our hard work paid off.

College is a crazy rollercoaster but it’s fun. What is life without some fun?