We have all heard it before: “College will be the best four years of your life.” They say that you will find your closest friends; people that you will be connected to for the rest of your years. You will be introduced to so many diverse groups of people and discover things about new places of the world, or at least campus. You will find your independence as you go on your way without your parents, without money, without a car. Your classes will be important, but they are now the classes that you want to take and textbooks aren’t a joke. Neither is reading them. They say that you will enjoy your freedom, but you know what they don’t tell you?
How many times you will break.
They don’t tell you that you might not be best friends with your roommate. Sure, you may live together, but you have to decide for yourself what to do if you and your living buddy aren’t on the best terms. They don’t tell you that it is completely normal to not go to bed until 2 a.m. on weekdays. They tell you about studying and finals and homework and homework and homework. Then they tell you that you will indeed begin to have an addiction: caffeine. Oh caffeine, how you have turned my worst days around. They don’t tell you that you will feel drained all of the time. They especially don’t tell you that no matter how old you get; people will always be immature.
College has opened my eyes to how much strength I never knew I had. Being four hours away from family and four hours away from where most of my friends went to school was the hardest thing I have ever done. Coming to a university where I essentially knew no one? Talk about starting over. They tell you that college will be a fresh start, a clean slate. They don’t tell you that if you’re not careful, it’s easy to fall back into old habits. Didn’t we all come here with a sense of purpose and a longing to differentiate our high school lives from our adulthood?
Completing my first year in college was the most emotional and stressful thing that I have done. I have pushed myself harder than my parents ever had; to finish my assignments, to do my laundry, to clean my room, to eat balanced meals—and no, 3 servings of carbs per meal with chocolate milk is not balanced. I have had to make deadlines and not procrastinate. I have grown as a student and as a human being. I have learned the importance of communication and not being pushed around. I have seen what it means to feel completely alone. But my freshman year made me strong. My freshman year made me mature. I can tackle anything. Except maybe folding my laundry within a reasonable time.
