Dear freshman me,
I know. You absolutely hate UF. You hate Gainesville. You hate your apartment. You hate your classes. You don't understand why people say it's great to be a Florida Gator.
But I promise, it gets better.
I can see you now. Laying in bed watching Supernatural from the moment you wake up until 1 p.m. when class starts. You lay in bed for 30 minutes contemplating whether or not taking the bus to campus for a 50 minute block is even worth it. You decide to go. You get to class and sit there by yourself watching Netflix or online shopping on your laptop. It's hard to make friends in classes, you fear rejection or even worse... having to keep conversation going.
After class, you get back on the bus to go back to your disgusting cockroach-infested apartment. You dread the idea of being home but you dread even more the idea of being on campus. You can't win. You get home, change back into your PJs and lay in bed watching Supernatural waiting for someone to text you for plans and if that doesn't happen, you do it until bed time. You FaceTime your long-distance boyfriend before bed to argue like usual. Same routine every week.
Yes, you go out once a week to Mid with a couple friends but it's nothing memorable. You go Marston a couple times a week with your friends from high school. But, that's pretty much the extent of your social life. Being in a relationship doesn't help.
It's the end of first semester and you're starting to skip even more classes than before. Dragging yourself out of bed before 12 p.m. is almost impossible. You try your best to keep going to classes but it's so hard. You realize you've only made 3 friends all semester besides the ones you already knew from high school. One from class, one from work and one from Preview. You're too lazy to keep in touch and make plans so you wait for them to hit you up. It feels like your social skills from before have completely disappeared.
All you can think about is the fact that you still have another semester at this horrible school and no friends to make it better. You want to transfer back home because your friends, family and boyfriend are all there and you feel that there isn't anything here for you.
DON'T GIVE UP.
From sophomore me to freshman me, college is 100% what you make of it. I live in a great apartment this year with great roommates. I've made tons of friends and have gotten so involved. I'm so relieved that I didn't transfer back home because I would never have been able to experience such an amazing year surrounded by such amazing people. The best thing I did was realize that I'm the only person holding me back.
For a lot of people, college is a hit or miss. Oftentimes people move away from home for school and hate it like I did. The best thing you can do in this situation is try again. Try for at least another year just to make sure that you won't regret leaving. If you still hate it, then leave. But don't leave until you know with all the certainty in the world that it's the right decision for you.
I now realize just how great it is to be a Florida Gator.
