Freshmen year of college, it’s the thing every high school senior looks forward to and what almost every senior in college wishes they could go back to. It’s a year of big change and your first year being on your own. It’s a time of learning and self-growth, and it’s where you begin to figure out what the rest of your life is going to be without everyone since childhood trying to persuade you this way or that. For me personally, it’s been a polar opposite change, my personal life has been turned upside down during my first semester of college and it’s sometimes hard to believe. Everyone tells you that your life is going to change and everything, but no one tells you exactly how different college life is from either high school or the real world.

Anyways, I figured I’d make a list of a few things that I’ve learned from my first semester of college, to either send the seniors down memory lane or to help the high school seniors mentally prepare themselves. Here are 5 things I learned from my first semester of college.

• Professors seem scary, yes, but they are human.
• Your social circle is going to change, and there is nothing you can do about it.
• You can say no.
• Money, becomes real.
• You’re going to change.

You thought talking to your high school algebra teacher was difficult? Well, now you’re talking to a teacher who has classes of about 300 people, give or take a couple, two or three times a day. He has no idea who you are and probably has a million other things to do then listen to you whine about why you’re failing, because you’ve never failed before and you were a ‘straight A’ student in high school and blah, blah, blah. I mean, that was high school, and this is a different level. You have a clean slate and are in league with a thousand other people now instead of that small handful you graduated with.

However, this does not mean he doesn’t care. Professors are still human too and don’t like it when people don’t understand the material. So, if you are struggling, do not be afraid to talk to your professor. They just might surprise you.

Yes, friend groups change, but it isn't the end of the world. If you were like me and went to school with a lot of the same people since kindergarten, this is going to be a shock to your system. I know I didn’t talk to everyone on a daily basis, but it takes a lot of adjusting not knowing of every single person on campus. It’s also difficult if you and your childhood friends are going separate ways, but it is okay, really. It doesn’t mean you stop being friends with them, it just means, their role in your life has gotten a little smaller and so has your role in theirs. You’re going to make new best friends, friends you’ll wonder how you weren’t able to live without them before.

Guess what, feeling the need to join every single club at school? You don’t have to, and no one will try to guilt trip you into it. College is about getting the education you need for the career ahead of you, but it’s also about finding out what you’re interested in. So, you don’t have to join STUCCO like you felt like you had to in High School, you can literally not join anything and it be okay. You get to figure out what you like and no one can say a thing about it.

Money? Yeah, guess what, you are paying for school now, you are paying for a place to live, you have groceries to buy, books to buy, the list goes on, and Mom and Dad aren’t here to bail you out as much anymore. This is something that’s often learned the hard way, but you’re the only one responsible for yourself now, and that might mean getting a job or two. It sucks, I know that you’d rather be out with your friends on a Friday night instead of ringing people up at the university store, trust me I’ve been there, but that’s a lot of what adulthood entails. You’re taking responsibility for yourself and creating a new adult life for yourself, it’s not always glamourous.

And finally…..

College often ends up being the place where you find that you’re free. You aren’t hearing the same stories a million times a day anymore. You aren’t around the same people anymore, thinking along the same lines. You’re in an entirely new environment, and regardless of whether or not you came with some of the people you graduated with, you’re still going to change because you’re entire world is changing. You’re meeting new people, developing new opinions, gaining new found confidence, and you’re going to end up changing. I know it seems scary and I know you don’t want to lose who you are, and you aren’t, you’re just shedding an old skin and adding new things to the list of things that make you, well you.

It’s college, something amazing that’s going to destroy you in the best way possible. You’re growing up, but not completely. You’re going to succeed, you’re going to fail, you’re going to change your mind, you’re going to break down, you’re going to discover a new part of yourself, and you’re going to have the time of your life. College turns your little world upside down and takes you places you never thought you would go, making a mess of the little world you’ve created, and you should let it, because life isn’t life if it doesn’t get a little messy sometimes.