Dear College Freshman,

Forget everything anyone tells you, including me. No matter what you hear, see, or think will happen your freshman year, it won't. That's the only thing I'm confident I'm right about.

College is crazy, top to bottom every experience is new and it's an amazing time of your life. It may turn out to be the best decision you ever made. Do not overlook your choice to go to school as status quo. Realize the impact that these next four years will have upon you. The lessons you learn, the experience gained, the tools for success gathered, and the people you birth relationships with, it's all going to be stages of your growth.

You may have some expectations and goals, but as I mentioned before, everything changes once you're there. Don't be scared. You're undoubtedly going to be nervous. But every single freshman is in the same boat as you are. Everyone is scared and anxious to see how college will be. And when you realize that, it makes everything in the transitional process much easier.

You're living away from your family, on your own but most likely crowded by your roommates and their friends. You're going to mentally fight for space, and fight your mind. You'll fight to find space to include everything necessary in your busy life. Your schedule will be packed, full of assignments and studying, of exams and projects. You'll do your best work when you cram late at night, and bomb an exam after weeks of studying. Your agenda will have formals and sporting events, Greek life activities and clubs. But it will never be too packed for two in the morning pizza, Friday and Saturday nights (aannnd Thursday's, aaaannnnnd maybe Tuesday's and Sunday's too). Maybe you'll even squeeze a couple naps in there.

You'll spend far too much money on things that you shouldn't. You'll even buy a bunch of textbooks you may only need one or two times. Fast food and eating out will be a norm once you get sick of the dining hall after three weeks. You probably won't even sleep in your bed half the nights.

Nights in the library will turn into day, you'll forget to eat, forget to do a homework assignment, or choose to blow certain classes off just to study for another. Some days you'll just check out and miss the whole lecture, other days you'll ditch to go out with your friends, only to find you missed an important lesson or a pop quiz. You'll have long papers to write that no one in your dorm can seem to finish, group projects that at least one member completes no work for, and exams you swear you aced, only to pull a low C.

You'll miss your friends and family back home, but your new family will share a bond with you that gets formed quicker than you realized even could. It will sting at first to be away from everything you once knew, but you will forget all about that feeling after a week or so, immersing yourself in college life.

You'll be worried and stressed, anxiety-ridden and bogged down. Nothing will make sense and you'll lose your mind. Freaking out and finagling everything will become your usual. It gets crazy, but the fun aspects will distract you, as well as all of your new friends.

Becuse you're going to meet so many incredible people. One's you'll form everlasting friendships with. People you look up to, have everything in common with, business minded people, social butterflies, the whole spectrum will be around you. You'll meet people you treat like a brother or sister after hanging out just a couple of times, and others you can't stand to see in the same room as you.

You will lose people too. Back home your circle will grow smaller as everyone strives to become something special in this life, separating themselves in the proceeds You'll move on from people that aren't goal oriented like you, or from people that take everything far too seriously. Your college friends will seem closer than some of your lifelong friends, but you won't mind.

Life changes and people come and go. You'll wake up at the end of the semester back home in your bed and realize that everything happens for the best, that the people in your life at that moment are the very people you want.

You'll come home that first time for Thanksgiving excited. To see your family and best friends will be exhilarating, and you'll have stories for everyone. But after that the idea of being independent and self-sufficient grow ever warmer in your mind.

Ultimately, you'll change. You'll discover more of yourself and who you are in this world, and you'll set yourself apart. You'll grow stronger and wiser, learning new things that you can apply to your everyday life. As you go about this, everyone else around you will change too. The world you once knew that was everything before freshman year, will disappear. It will all seem far too different, but the fresh new vision you have will appeal to you. You will begin a fun and exciting journey, and a new chapter of your life will begin.

Sincerely,

Just a kid who was once a freshman too