As the summer slows down and I prepare for my sophomore year of college, I have spent some time thinking about all of the things that I was feeling at this time last year. I was prepared for college on paper, but emotionally, I was overwhelmed and so nervous about what to expect. Despite all of those nerves, I was expected to look excited on the outside and ready to take on the world. Like I said, it's not like I was totally unprepared and unfit for my first year of college, but there were definitely some things that I know now that I wish I knew then.
1. You are not anyone's bottom-tier friend, and you should feel good about standing up for yourself.
Making friends and losing friends is hard, but that doesn't mean you should let yourself be walked all over just to have someone to hang out with.
2. Your first roommate experience is going to suck so bad, but you will be able to laugh about it later, I promise.
Oh god, your fall semester will be something else, but you'll have stories, and on the bright side, you now have your bad roommate experience out of the way.
3. Eating shitty food is a bad way to deal with your bad first semester.
I can honestly tell you that after your first semester, you might never eat Nutella or microwavable macaroni and cheese ever again, which is probably better.
4. Exercise is SO IMPORTANT, don't put it on the back-burner.
No, it's not very much fun, but you'll feel so much better if you just get off your lazy ass and drag yourself to the gym.
5. Even though your grades really are important, try not to sweat it when you get the occasional bad grade. It will even out.
There will always be a class or two that, no matter how hard you study and think you understand what's going on, you will still be doing a little worse than you want to be; that's life.
6. Yes, you do kind of suck at making friends, but you'll find some, and let me tell you right now, they're pretty great.
You'll watch a lot of television, complain about the presidential race, discuss annoying parts of your classes, and compare workout injuries for most of the semester.
7. Hating your first major and wanting to change is not that uncommon and not the end of the world.
But to be fair, there are a stupid amount of hoops to jump through.
8. Your parents are going to be there every step of the way, and they're going to go to bat for you in huge ways.
I seriously can't even imagine what I would have done during my freshman year without my parents. Even if they might have occasionally gotten tired of me calling all the time, they were always there to answer the phone. Beyond that, I would have had way more bad roommate stories had it not been for my dad helping me to find a new room.
9. Your relationship will get a little strained, but it's all going to be okay.
There will be arguments, and missed phone calls and Facetime dates, but there will also be great short weekends together, and long breaks become even better to look forward to. In hindsight, you will see that although it sucked at the time, it wasn't as bad as you both thought it would be.
10. When you look back, you'll see all of these things and realize that even though there were some things you could have done better, you had the best support system in the world, and because of that, you did pretty well.
Keep up the good work, and remember to thank all of the people that you have in your corner.
