The most important lesson I learned in college did not come from a classroom. It was not something I could be graded on. And it is not something I will forget immediately after the final exam. The most important lesson I learned during my first year of college was independence.

When I got to college, I realized that there were a million things that I had never done for myself. I came from a household with two parents that believed in keeping me young for as long as they could. Even though I appreciated everything they did for me at the time, this led to me looking like a deer in the headlights for my first few months of college.

For the first time in my life, I had to do my own laundry. This was the rudest awakening I have ever experienced. I was used to throwing my dirty clothes in my hamper (or on my floor, let’s be honest) and then they would appear folded on my bed a few days later. I put this chore off for as long as I could but one day in September, it had to be done.

I followed the laminated instructions my mom had typed up for me and I managed to not ruin anything. I’m also proud to announce that I only had to call her twice.

This endeavor led to me finally realizing that I was on my own. After school, I would not come home to a warm dinner from my mom. Instead, I was expected to go to the cafeteria. Thankfully, the soft-serve ice cream was there to comfort me in the absence of my parents.

Part of becoming independent also meant that I had to learn how to manage my time. I no longer had parents lecturing me about getting my homework done in a timely manner so that I could be in bed before 10:30 p.m. I had to learn the hard way that studying past midnight made waking up for an 8:00 a.m class is very difficult.

More importantly, learning how to be independent made me appreciate my parents even more. I struggled this past year with feeling as though there were not enough hours in the day for school, eating, laundry, keeping my room clean and socializing. I now realize how difficult it has been for my parents to work, keep our house clean, feed themselves and their three children and do laundry.

Learning how to be independent taught me to appreciate all of the years my parents spent taking care of me. There were many days during the past year when I was homesick because I had a large amount of homework, I was running out of clean clothes, and I could not remember that last decent meal I had. Along the way, I learned that those were the days that made me independent. Powering through hours of homework, doing a little bit of laundry over the course of several days and surviving on mostly pizza would eventually make me stronger.