I'm halfway through my freshman year and I feel like I've aged 10 years.

Wait let me rephrase that.

I'm halfway through my freshman year and I feel like I've matured a great deal. There we go, that sounds a bit better.

Anyway, I can definitely say that I am not the same person that I was when I rolled into my dorm room carrying all of my stuff that day in August. I had bought all of my school supplies, I had arranged my desk how I wanted it, I had organized all of my clothes, and I had made sure that I had my schedule with me so I knew where all of my classes were. In my mind, I was more than prepared for this...or so I thought. There were bumps on my journey, bumps that I had no idea about going into all of this.

One thing that I will say surprised me was when I said that first goodbye to my family. In my mind, the first initial goodbye was going to be pretty smooth. My Mom would ask me one last time if I had everything and my Dad would remind me once again to stay on top of my school work. Here's the thing though, it did go pretty smoothly until I saw my sister, Mom, and Dad walking towards the parking lot. That's when I felt it. The thing is, I didn't really feel sad. I felt reassured, reassured that this was all real, reassured that I was actually starting college.

In addition to all that, my sleep schedule changed drastically. You could have once called me an "early bird". I mean, I had to get early for school. It's just that eventually I got so used to waking up early that I would wake up around 5 am on weekends. I know, crazy right? I just enjoyed the morning time and I didn't like the idea of wasting my entire day. Then I started college and about a few months in that all changed. I started to wake up later (my idea of waking up later was 7 a.m.). For the first couple weeks, I struggled to stay awake during my 8 am class. This whole thing surprised me because I thought that it was going to be a piece of cake. Well, it wasn't. If you have an alarm clock or your phone has the ability to set an alarm-use it. You will need it!

I wish I had known how important studying actually was. I can't say that in high school I studied for hours at a time because I didn't. The only tests that I really studied hard for were the ones that came during my junior and senior year. That was mainly because they affected whether or not I graduated high school. When it comes to college, it's a whole different ball game. You're paying for your education which means that you have to get as much as you can out of it. That one test that you bombed could be the difference between whether or not you failed a class. Honestly, the most tests that I had in a class last semester was four. Yep, that's a lot of chances. That's why you've got to do that best that you can. Study! You'll be surprised what studying for at least an hour each night does for your GPA.

These three things (or bumps) aren't the only lessons that I've learned this past semester. Believe me, I've learned a lot of lessons, but these are the top three. Everyone has to go through bumps in life, not just freshmen. Just remember that whether or not you see it coming is not important, what's important is how you handle it.