Freshman year of college, the best year of your life as many might say. Meeting new people, staying up all night with your new best friends, going to parties, studying what you’re passionate about, and having the time of your life. But that’s not the case for everyone. There seems to be a rare few that don’t have that magical first year of newfound independence and adventure. College is a big change and sometimes it doesn’t go exactly as planned. But you’re not alone. There are plenty of other people having a rough first year at college and it’s completely normal despite what you might see on your high school friends’ Instagram's.
Your first year of college isn’t exactly what you expected. Instead of having the time of your life, you feel like you’re trapped in a nightmare. You can’t possibly comprehend how anyone has ever said, “college is the best four years of your life.” You find yourself alone living in this scary place miles away from everyone you know. You had a lot of high hopes for what college may be like but nothing seems to be going your way and college went from this big exciting adventure to a prison without escape. No matter how hard you try you just can’t seem to win.
You had dreams of you and your roommate becoming the best of friends, but once you move in you realize you two have nothing in common and can’t seem to get along. In fact, you’re having a lot of trouble making new friends in general. It seems like everyone’s friend groups are already set in stone and finding people you fit in with is next to impossible. You miss your old social life you had in high school. It’s almost taunting seeing everyone go out on Friday nights while you sit in your room and watch yet another season of your favorite Netflix show.
You always imagined college to be a time to take intellectual stimulating classes that were oh so very interesting to you, but instead your just stuck taking a bunch of irrelevant 101s and boring required classes. You start losing a lot of your motivation and drive and go from a straight A honor student to someone trying just to slide by with a C.
You miss your home, the places you used to go to a million times and never get sick of. You miss your family, your friends, and your dog. You always thought you were an adventurous soul who wanted to go as far away from home as possible, but this isn’t the adventure you signed up for.
I’m not going to lie it’s hard, it really is. But you will make it through that first tough year, I promise. Maybe college isn’t the best four years of your life but you can make it the best three years of your life. It’s never too late to start a new beginning. Don’t settle! Next year join more clubs, meet new people, give it your all, transfer if you have to. These are the best years of your life and you don’t have to spend them being miserable. Make a change and make the last few years count.
