Like most students in their first year of college, the winter break of my freshman year was filled with parents, relatives, friends — seemingly everyone and anyone — asking, “So how do you like school?”

Of course I responded with a smile and an, “I love it!” but that wasn’t entirely true. It’s not that I hated college, or disliked it even, it was just that college was hard. And no one seemed to be discussing that part of it.

Exams were stressful, being away from home kind of sucked and making friends was nowhere near as easy as I had anticipated. By the end of first semester I was much more settled in and comfortable with the friends I had made, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t sad at the thought of leaving my high school friends and family once break was over.

Everyone else seemed like they were dying to get back to school, so I kept my college concerns to myself and hoped second semester would only continue to get better.

It wasn’t until close to the end of my freshman year that I began talking with friends about how I struggled with college initially. Surprisingly, they all admitted to the same. In hindsight, however, I shouldn’t have felt so surprised so many others felt like I had — going to college is a huge transition. A huge, exciting, terrifying transition that takes some getting used to. And just because people aren’t talking about how difficult it was for them to adjust, doesn’t mean they don’t secretly feel the same way you do.

So freshman, you’re not alone. That’s the first good news. The second good news, it gets better.

I speak from experience when I say second semester of freshman year is way better than first semester. Second semester is a chance to get even closer with the friends you met at the beginning of the year — or a chance to reach out and meet new people that you may click with better. Second semester taught me that good friendships take time; soon I found myself sharing moments with my college friends that I only imagined I’d ever be able to experience with the friends I’d known for years.

You survived first semester, which means you know what you have to do to survive and conquer the second time around. While I can’t promise the exams or 8 a.m.’s get any easier, the way you manage them will. And because of this you can feel comfortable making time to join activities you are interested in — ultimately finding your home in whatever organization feels right.

It won’t be long before you are accidentally referring to campus as "home" and anxiously counting down the days until you get to return for sophomore year. It may take some getting used to, but then it only gets better from there.