I exited the doors of my high school one last time excited to "finally be out of that place," I was ready. Ready to take on college, get the best grades possible, party hard, and meet many new people. I spent all summer trying to prepare myself, so when August 22nd came along my bags were packed and I headed out of the door.

We drove 2 and a half hours up to my new home: Central Michigan University.

I originally chose Central for a few reasons. They have an amazing film program, I'd get to room with my best friend, they're known as THE party school in Michigan, it's just the right amount of miles away from home, and there were a TON of cute boys. It was the perfect fit for me.

My first impression, aside from my overly enthusiastic orientation, was the dorms. I walked up the 3 flights of stairs to my new room and threw down my bags. "This looks like a prison." The mattress was approximately 2 and a half inches thick (thank goodness I got a good mattress topper), the room was the size of a small shoe box, the two beds were squished together, there was one dresser, and to top it all off it was unbearably hot. Sounds fun, right? I whined and complained while my parents and I lugged all of my belongings up the never ending stairs. As they year went on I did not get along with my roommates one bit. Even though my living situation SUCKED, I brushed it off in hopes of all my other expectations being met.

Fast forward past all of my somewhat-fun-summer-camp-like early move in seminars to August 28th, welcome weekend. If you've ever heard of Central you have without a doubt heard that it is a "party school." I'd like to defend Central by saying that it is just like any other college, of course there are parties but it's not that crazy. The reason we're labeled as this "party school" is because of the fact that if you walk down main street (where all the fraternity and sorority houses are) you are sure to find some type of "social gathering." Now, just because there are parties does not mean you'll get invited to any or that you'll even want to. I'll admit that I did go to my fair share and I did have some fun. Have you ever seen the movie Neighbors, or any movie that shows college parties? Well of course that's what I expected, and in a way that's kind of what it was like. Imagine mass amounts of sweaty college kids, packed in a basement lit up by Wal-mart strobe lights, dancing to music about Miley Cyrus and drugs. That's exactly what some of these "parties" are. Needless to say there are many of other ways to have fun without going out and drinking.

Another thing that took me by surprise were the classes. I was so excited to know that I would be the one to pick which classes I would take and when I would take them. I crafted what I thought to be the perfect schedule. Two weeks in I was completely checked out. My 8 AM's were no longer even thought of. Homework consisted mostly of blank papers being shoved into my one multipurpose folder that I used for all of my classes. Sleep was something I only got during said classes. It was rough. One day I rolled out of bed, walked to the window, saw that it was snowing, said "nope," and jumped back into my warm semi-comfortable bed. The joke on our floor was always "did Jenna go to class today?", and the answer was always the same "probably not." It was so incredibly hard to motivate myself to do homework or even go to class without having my mom or teachers there to push me to do it. I came to Central on a scholarship and because I have certain academic standards I had to meet, I came very close to losing that. Towards the end of the year, I had to throw myself into overdrive just to not get my scholarship revoked.

Lastly what was different about college was the friends I made. I expected to meet people I could borrow pencils from in class, people I would say hi to in passing. But what I gained was so much more than that. At Central, I have made some of the absolute best friends I could have ever asked for. We spent countless nights watching movies illegally until 5 in the morning. We would cry on each other's shoulders when we missed our pets back home. We would volunteer together at the humane society. We would get dinner, do each other's hair, tell stories about our lives. We did anything and everything together and I am so grateful to still have them in my life.

Although my first year of college was rough, VERY rough, I'm proud to say that it has helped shape me into the person I am today. I now know just how important it is to go to class and do my work. I now live in an ungraded premium room. I now have a job. I now LOVE my new roommates. I now don't go out and party. I now still have some of the best friends ever. As Asher Roth would say "Man I love college, I love it."