Before I started college, I had no idea what to expect. I read dozens of articles on different websites detailing what I should expect from my freshman year at a four-year university and how to handle it. I realize now that a lot of those articles were mostly wrong.
Of course, the following five aspects cannot totally quantify the college experience. There are many different factors that determine what your college experience will be, and this is different for everyone. My first quarter experience was not an uncommon one, however, and I felt as though I was totally unprepared for what was being thrown my way. I’ve compiled a list of what I wished someone would have told me before I left for college last September -- this isn’t the only article you’ll read like this online, but it might be one of the most honest ones.
1. Meeting your roommate for the first time is nerve-racking.
If you’re like me, you consulted a dating-website-type roommate search engine specific to your school where you uploaded a paragraph about yourself and what you look for in a potential roommate and hoped someone would read it and want to live with you. A lot of people choose to do it like this, whether it’s because they think it will help them meet new people and make friends quickly, or because they don’t really have friends going to the same school. Meeting your new roommate is scary. As long as you respect their space and talk over any conflicts as soon as they happen so they don’t fester, you and your roommate should get along fine. If it’s just not a good match, don’t feel guilty about moving out.
2. You'll experience loneliness.
Making friends in college is easy. Most first-year and transfer students will be looking for new friendships as much as you will, so it won’t be hard to find a person or people to hang out with in your residence hall or in your classes. Often, you find yourself comparing and contrasting your new friends to your old ones from high school. Maybe one of your new friends has a laugh similar to that of your best friend back home, or someone’s personality reminds you of your younger sibling. During my first quarter, I often found myself feeling lonely because of how much I missed my old friends. I missed out on a lot of friend-making opportunities because I sat in my room dwelling on how “lonely” I was all the time. It took me a while but I've gotten over this and I've made some solid friends I actually like. Making worthwhile friends is only hard if you make it hard.
3. You'll have a lot more responsibility.
The main thing I regret not doing before I left for school was having my parents teach me how to cook. The dining hall food isn’t the worst food I’ve ever had, but it’s bad enough to make me feel tired of eating. If I don’t eat at the dining hall, though, I might starve because I can’t cook for myself; my skills don’t expand past Top Ramen with Sriracha and burnt grilled cheese sandwiches. You learn a lot about how to do things yourself when you leave for college. It has taught me I depended on my parents for a lot of things when I lived at home. I didn’t know how to cook, clean, do my laundry correctly, do my own taxes, or make phone calls for myself. Having all of this responsibility heaped on top of you at once is a lot of stress, but it teaches you how to be an adult very quickly. When in doubt, though, don’t be afraid to call your parents and ask for help.
4. You’ll have a new appreciation for home.
I hated my hometown and couldn’t wait to leave. I know I’m not alone. One of the leading factors in why people choose to go away for college is probably because they dislike where they’re from and want to start their life elsewhere. I’m from Vancouver, Wash., which a lot of people don’t even know exists, and I hated everything about it when I was there. I hated the people, the schools I went to, and the fact that there was nothing to do. Now that I’ve been away for half a year, I realize that it’s the small things I really miss. I miss the Walmart I visited almost every day because I needed to get out of the house. I miss when my parents would tell me funny stories about their childhood. I miss home-cooked meals and sleeping in my own bed. College is great, but spending an extended period of time away from home reminds you of how great being home is, too.
5. You'll have an unimaginable amount of freedom.
During the summer before freshman year of college, my curfew was 11 p.m. on a good day. The sun had barely set when I had to start getting ready to go home. Now, in college, I could spend days away from home and there’s no one to check in on me. While you have full freedom to do basically anything you want in college, you have to be smart about it. Your parents aren’t around to make sure you get to class on time, come home at a decent time, or to make sure you don’t do stupid things, so those responsibilities are on you. I take advantage of this freedom as much as I can, and that’s what makes my experience enjoyable: being myself and doing what I want to do, but being reasonable about it so I don't lose complete control.
College is a wild ride and it took me a while to get used to it. I went from crying to my mom on the phone every day about how much I wanted to come home to being so busy with my friends and extracurriculars I don’t even have time to think about going home. While I had a rocky start to my college career, I feel better about my place on this campus with each passing day, and I know I made the right decision in attending college.
