I would need more than two hands to count how many times I heard, "College will be some of the best years of your life." Now, as I am sitting at my desk in my dorm, I am thinking the exact opposite. For many freshmen in college, it may possibly be the best years of their life, for others not so much. Now I may be a bit bias because I doomed myself from a good experience from the start, but I just want to set the facts straight on what college life is really about by sharing my mistakes.

No matter how introverted you may be, don't be one.

With a busy class load, work schedule, and keeping up your health, you'll often find you'd rather lay in bed and binge watch a show on Netflix than take the opportunities to make new friends. As the fall semester goes by, and you see everyone around is starting to make new friends and hanging out with them, you'll start to feel like, what about me?

In order to make friends, you have to work for it, plain and simple. Setting yourself apart from people will not get you friends. Go to the lame week of welcome activities, join a club, go to a student ministry, do anything to try to put yourself out there to make friends. You'll thank me for realizing this in your first semester than if you wait like I did to realize this starting my second semester friendless and quite lonely.

You may be at the point where you want to get away from your parents for smothering you, but don't take your dependence on them for granted.

Now, this is coming from a person who craves independence and control and wants nothing less. That was until I was tired of eating the same food in the dining hall, doing my own laundry, cleaning, shopping, etc. Taking the time to "adult" is hard. You will wish they were still asking you 24/7 if you needed anything, or if they put your clothes away for you because you were busy. Most importantly you will miss their presence. No matter if they are your parents or not just having them around to just chat or sitting down for a meal may possibly become things you miss.

The most important discovery I have had in my first semester of college is to be intentional.

I have never set long-term goals in my life. I am not a goal setter at all. However, at the start of my second semester, I decided to set a goal. This was to be intentional. Intentionality means an honest pursuit of something. For me, I plan to be more intentional with my classmates, my professors, my students, my friends and most importantly my faith.

My first semester was a mess where I was just getting by. I walked away from that semester feeling like I hadn't moved anywhere. You will be exhausted, but don't let that be an excuse. Everything will start to suffer and you will feel like you are drowning in all these feelings. When you set yourself up to live an intentional life your energy for doing things will only increase because of the purpose you are now setting yourself up for.

Your college experience will be what you make it not what others will tell you it will be.

If college starts to feel like it won't be the best years of your life change that. You are in control of the experience you have while in college. How you set that up the first year will determine how the next three years will play out. Take your first year of college by the horns and own it.