Congratulations on graduating high school! This is going to be one of the most exciting years of your life. You've graduated from high school, been accepted to college and are moving on with the rest of your life. The keys are in your hands, and you're grabbing the steering wheel of the metaphorical vehicle that is your life. From this moment forward, you decide your destiny and what you want to make of yourself.
This is such an exciting time, but I will warn you that it will not be easy. You will be expected to be an adult and make adult decisions. You will have to wake yourself up in the morning, make sure you get to classes on time and take care of your responsibilities all while making new friends, getting used to the new place you're living in and learning how to be on your own. You won't make your best friends right away and classes aren't going to be as easy as they were in high school, but let me just tell you, the work for the classes and the friends you will eventually make are so worth it.
College is so fulfilling because you get to plan out the life you want for yourself and who you want to be. It's really tough, and you will get lonely, but just remember that your family and friends from back home will always love and support you. Your family is just a phone call away and getting to catch up with everyone is such a sweet experience. You will lose friends that used to be big parts of your life, but honestly, that's just part of growing up. Reach out to your friends as much as you can, and keep in contact with the people you love. (And don't forget to remind them that you love them often!)
Take some time to appreciate the little things around you at home before you leave because you will miss them once you've left. Nothing's ever going to be exactly the same as it has your last eighteen years, but that's okay. Once you get to school, experience everything you can. Go to a football game with someone you just met, explore every part of your college town, try a new coffee shop, join a club, rush a sorority, find a new church, ask someone you don't know very well to get lunch with you. Just say yes to things. Saying yes is scary sometimes, but the friends and experiences that come from it are so worth it. Trying new things doesn't always work out, and it might not be something you want to do again, but at least you can say you've tried it, and it's not for you.
Give people a chance when you come to school. Everyone has their own story, their own strengths and weaknesses. Don't insult anyone because of their major or where they're from. It's okay if your friends don't look exactly like you or if they aren't from where you are. One of the most exciting parts of college is getting to make friends from all different places and backgrounds because you all have different things to contribute to the friendship.
College is when you start to experience networking; most people are only a few degrees away from each other, even if they're total strangers. A big school feels so much smaller when your roommate is best friends with a girl you know from math class who knows someone from church who is also in the same class as one of your sorority sisters. This being said, be kind to everyone and look at everyone as a potential friend.
Your dorm room might look bleak, but we've all been there. The stories are fun to look back on and laugh at, and you tend to grow closer to the people living around you because of them. Dorm rooms teach you to appreciate the luxuries in life, like showers that work all the time and actually having hot water and being able to sleep with a room to yourself. You only have to live there for a year—so make the most of it!
Just have so much fun this year. Freshman year is tough, but you will learn a lot about yourself, and it's an experience that shapes every single one of us. Put yourself out there, and make friends because your friends will become your family. Tell your parents thank you for allowing and aiding you to get an education, and say "thank you" to them for raising you to be the awesome person you are. (Sorry, Mom and Dad, for all the drama and the tears over the years!)
You're going to do great, get ready for an exciting year!
