Ah, autumn quarter has come and gone. Now we are off to winter quarter ready to attempt to figure out exactly what being a college student is all about, again. Maybe autumn quarter wasn’t the smoothest of rides, at one point or another we all learned a little something about life.

So here is a list of six mistakes we made our first quarter of college and the lessons we’re bound to learn sometime:

Mistake 1: Missing lecture because you slept through it instead.

Getting to bed early is easier said than done, especially in college where no one really wakes up until five in the evening anyways. Yet sleeping through lecture may not be the best way to catch up on much needed rest.

Lesson Learned: That 18th episode of "Friends" can wait, go to bed. If you decide "The One After Ross Says Rachel" is too important to miss than learn to embrace the powerful tool of a venti Americano and a little grit. Maybe sleeping through a 100-level Anthropology class won’t affect your final grade too much in the long run, but as classes get harder you have to actually listen to learn (apparently…I was asleep that day we learned that).

Mistake 2: Hooking up with that one guy.

You know, the guy your friends won’t let you forget while all you want is to repress the memory all together. You try and tell yourself you were just having a bad day and needed a little fun, but you know deep down you regret it. All you want is for the memory of it to disappear. Yet of course you see him in the library every day and find yourself hiding out in the bathroom until you are sure he is gone.

Lesson Learned: Picture yourself a week later, if you still think you will be happy with the decision to hook up with that guy then by all means. Just never let yourself do anything you would seriously regret. You don’t have all day to hide in the girl’s bathroom, you have to come out and study for that math midterm eventually.

Mistake 3: Spending all your money on coffee (and other things you can’t afford).

College is great because you feel like you truly have control over your money. You get to decide when, how and on what you spend it. You can get as many vanilla lattes as you want now, who is stopping you? Then halfway through break your wallet begins to lighten transferring to a heavy pressure on your shoulders causing you to think, how am I supposed to make it to winter break on $6.72…I need a latte to calm me down.

Lesson Learned: It is time to seriously consider that budget your mom has been bugging you about. Maybe setting a weekly spending amount couldn’t hurt?

Mistake 4: Choosing the party over studying.

I get it. You are all ready to hunker down and work on your English paper and then your roommate comes in with the great idea to go out. Of course you cave, I mean the paper waited this long it can wait until tomorrow right? You wouldn’t want your roommate to go out alone right? RIGHT?! But before you know it the night has come and gone and you are left stressing over a paper that could have been mostly done or completely finished at that point.

Lesson Learned: Going out every Thursday night isn’t a necessity to a good college career, doing well in school is. Don’t get me wrong, I want you to go out. Go out, have fun, make memories and laugh a lot, but pick and choose your moments to let loose. Sometimes the real fun is the feeling you get when you actually do know what the test in front of you is asking you to do.

Mistake 5: Letting Netflix take over your life.

Netflix is slowly seeping into every moment of our lives (…or is that just me?), either way the dangerous thing about it is that you can stream it anywhere. On your phone outside your last class of the day, on your laptop in the library, and (my personal favorite) from the comfort of your twin XL bed. "Friends." "How I Met Your Mother." "That 70s Show." All the best in one place. One episode wouldn’t hurt… fast forward three days and five seasons later you can’t remember what the outside looks like and you hiss every time your roommate turns on the lights.

Lesson Learned: Get out and talk to someone other than your computer screen. Opt for a few more activities that get you out of your room and in with the rest of the world. Save Netflix for when you really need to sit back and enjoy a show. Netflix can’t feed you, love you or tell you to go do something productive.

Mistake 6: Bombing a final.

You studied night and day, you thought you did everything right, you even remembered to purchase a Scantron beforehand! Come the day grades sent out and you feel a lump form in your throat. A grade so bad you didn’t know the grading scale went down that low. Scenarios involving dropping out of school and taking up knitting to fill your empty days begin to play on the edge of your mind. You don’t think you can ever come back from it.

Lesson Learned: You will come back from it. We’ve all failed before and we will all fail again. Take this bump in the road to push you forward to do great things! Sometimes we can do everything right and it still doesn’t work out. Never let that deter you from what you really want.

I too am only a young freshman. New to the unique world that is University life. I made mistakes this past quarter. Some small and insignificant and others, big and cringe-worthy. In the end though, we all are still learning. Trying to figure out our own little place in this big new world. So recognize your mistakes, find the hidden lesson and move on. Most of all know this, it’s only the beginning! Get ready for three and a half more years of mess-ups, bad decisions, a lot of laughs and memories that never leave you.

Personally, I can’t wait.