As months turned into weeks and weeks turned into days, it was my college move-in day. Anxious yet excited, I did not know what to expect. I’ve been waiting for this day for so long, but I couldn’t believe it was finally here

Like all college freshman, I didn’t know how this whole “college” thing worked. Where are my classes? Am I being too shy? How do I do my laundry? Should I go out tonight? These were all questions spinning through my head.

My first semester made me appreciate home more than I ever imagined. People always say “college makes you appreciate home and home makes you appreciate college” and that statement is 100 percent true. Once I got to college, I would have done anything to just drive around my hometown with my best friends or just eat dinner with my family. For me, my homesickness went away and turned into an appreciation for the amazing support system I have at home.

But, I feel extremely lucky to say that I found my support system at college very early on. After a few awkward dinners together, it felt like we were all meant to be friends. I’ve never experienced getting so close to people in such a short amount of time until now. These girls are some of the best people I have come across and I am so blessed to call them all my best friends. They are the main reason I have grown to love college as much as I do. Whether it's sitting in our rooms, going out, our dinners together, studying in the library, or stealing cookies from the dining hall, we are always laughing together.

Now the dreaded topic -- school work. Being a nursing major, my mom, who is a nurse herself, and many others would tell me how consuming nursing school is. I understood that it would be a lot, but I couldn’t imagine it would be as bad as they said. I expected to get the same grades as I did in high school; obviously I was very naïve.

Hours and hours of my day were spent outlining anatomy chapters or doing online quizzes for psychology. I learned that I could study for an exam for over a week and still not get an A, and it took me a while to be okay with that. College is a lot of work and it can make you crazy at times. I would call my parents almost every day saying how stressed I was and my dad would just say to me, “Danielle, calm down and you just have to get the damn credits,” which is completely true. Adjusting from high school work to college work is a hard, but nowhere near impossible.

For me, the friends I made at school helped me survive the workload. We rented study rooms in the library before almost every exam and stayed up to the early hours of the morning studying. We would motivate each other when one of us wanted to give up, or have a random dance-off when we needed a break, and I truly thank them for that.

You are at college to work hard and get a degree, but there are times when you just need to go out with your girls. So remember to have a good time once in a while. Also, the freshman 15 is a real thing. Stay away from the dining hall cookies and late night Dominos.

Now, looking back, the unknown was what made my first semester of college perfect. No one gave me a college handbook or told me exactly what to do and how to act. Yes, I watched thousands of college advice videos on Youtube, but I really didn’t know what it was like until I was a college student myself.

These past few months have been some of the best in my life and they totally blew away any expectations that I had.

So thank you, first semester, I cannot wait for more to come.