I try not to regret anything I’ve done in my life. I feel like everything is a learning experience and that from every choice I grow as a person, but there are some things that I wish I had known my first year on campus. These range from things I wish I had done, things I wish I hadn’t done, things I plan to do before I graduate, and things I hope you think about after reading this.
1. I Wish I Had Taken More Hikes
Even just a walk around the campus or the woods behind the school’s golf course, a walk is a great way to clear an over worked brain. I wish I had been more adventurous. I wish I had dragged my friends out with me to go jump in waterfalls or take that perfect sunrise photo. I still have one more year to rectify this and I plan to.
2. Known That Friend Groups Aren’t Like High School Cliques
I’m shy and introverted. I don’t make friends easily but I wish I had jumped into more groups and made friends with a bunch of people rather than making one friend and hoping they had a group of friends I could tag along with. The great thing about college is that everyone is learning, everyone is growing, and people are exploring different sides of themselves and so should you. Say hi to everyone, be kind to everyone, you’ll never know who’ll wind up being your best mate.
3. Watched Less Netflix, Gone to More Events
Netflix is great. I’m a huge fan of the #netflixandchill but I’m paying close to 60k a year so the college can show me amazing people, I wish I had utilized that more. I wish I had gone to more plays, poetry readings, lectures, club events, diner parties, anything! So if you are wondering if that talk is really worth going to, just go. I promise you, it’ll be just as good if not a million times better than a rerun Buffy.
4. Taken More Odd Ball Classes
I was dead set on being a Chemistry Major when I got to college and everyone knows that S.T.E.M. requirements are challenging and there are a lot of classes that are needed but I wish I had explored more before setting my dreams. I would love to have taken a sociology class, or an art class, or business class but because I had such a one sided mind I filled two years with S.T.E.M. core classes then switched majors and no longer have space for those random fun classes. Explore first, set goals later, trust me on this one.
5. Brought Less Crap
I only brought a suitcase of clothes, a trunk, a plastic set of drawers and a bike my first semester on campus and still I wish I had brought less. I feel like stuff just gets acquired over the school year like mugs a friend bought me or Snapbacks that I “needed”. All this crap just makes moving out a pain and I never wind up using half the stuff I brought. Bring less, you’ll thank me.
6. Hadn’t Gotten Shit-faced At My First Party
I made out with my best friend, threw up all over my dorm hall and my bed, scared my roommate, and told everyone in my dorm my darkest secrets. This all could have been avoided if I set a limit for myself rather than taking as many shots as I could as fast as I could. Drinking responsibly is fun, being drunk is not. I wish I had listened to my mom’s advice on that one.
I think the one thing I regret most though is how scared I was my first few years. I was scared to apply to the super cool looking internship so I didn’t and now I’ll never know if I could have gotten it. I was afraid of talking to the smart kid in class because I thought they’d hate me and now I’ll never know. As I enter my last year, I feel like I finally have some confidence in who I am as a person. So my best advice is simply: fake it ‘till you make it. You won’t know until you try but if you never try you’ll regret it.
