Dear Freshman (Girl or Guy),

You are at month seven of your first year in college. By now, you have probably realized how much more different college is than what you expected it to be. The movie and music culture make your expectations of your experience skyrocket and well they also are very skewed of what college actually entails. Now, I am not saying college is not as awesome as you expect it to be, it is. It is just awesome in different ways.

When I first came out to Tuscaloosa I was ready. Ready for new friends. Ready to learn about things I actually wanted to learn about. Ready for new experiences. For the first few days without my mom and dad, I was doing great. I did not know anyone coming to Alabama, but that did not discourage me because I knew I was bound to meet people and make friends.

But, you get in a funk after a week or two where reality hits and you get scared. Do not lie to yourself, we all felt it. It was scary to realize going to college was real and you actually were all alone for the first time in your life.

But, then you started going out and making friends. Then you were out of that scary funk and truly thriving in a way you had never been before and that is what made college all of the sudden feel awesome to you.

You were meeting new people left and right; creating all of these new memories (ones you remember and some you just cannot seem to recollect). And after a few days of that, you realized you were going to be alright.

Then you took your first real college exam and, well, you were not thriving. In high school, you thought you knew what an "all-nighter" was, probably only really staying up till 3 or 4 a.m., but now you truly realized an all-nighter is actually staying up for 24+ hours and going straight to your 8 a.m. exam. YIKES.

You had to learn how to actually study and that, unlike in high school, you actually have to read the textbook and write down just about every piece of information. But, after that first test, you knew what was expected and were able to only succeed in the dangerous situations that are college exams from there on out.

Next in your journey was going home for breaks to see your hometown friends, but, that was an awkwardness the movies did not prepare you for either. You go home and all of a sudden the people whose lives you knew so well, you did not anymore. They would tell stories of their new lives consisting of people you had not the slightest clue of who they were, making it unbelievably difficult to follow what your friends were even talking about.

You might have still maintained communication over texting or Snapchat, but that communication did not prepare you for the reality that you met when you came face to face with your hometown friends; and, that new reality was that you have changed. In only a few short months you grew beyond what you thought was possible and for the first time, being home with everyone you thought you knew so well, you began to realize it.

I want to say that that change only happens once when you are in college, but then I would be straight up lying to you. In college you constantly find yourself growing in different ways. It could be because of your involvement on campus steering you to different friends even at school. It could be because you outgrow habits much quicker than others do. It could even be because of the career aspirations that you find yourself going in another direction than your friends both at school and at home. And I am here to tell you that is completely okay.

Do not freak yourself out when you realize how much your life is changing. It is scary, yes, I was scared. In fact, when I realized how much I was growing and becoming even more independent than I already was, I became terrified. Everything began to change and I was not sure if I was ready for it all quite yet. I mistook change and being independent for loneliness, which is so easy to do. That is definitely something the movies and music do not tell you about being in college.

I do not say all of this to scare you, but to tell you that that will happen. But also to tell you that that change you experience is also amazing. When you go home for the summer, you will still see your friends from high school, but you realize you are your own person without them and do not necessarily have to rely on them like you used to.

Your freshman year creates a whole other version of yourself that you did not even know existed and that is because you go through more life experiences than you could possibly ever imagine by the end of your freshman year. Something else the movies do not tell you about. Becoming that new person takes a few bumps that are practically required of you to hit your first year at school and on your own. It also just takes realizing that this change is amazing, for you to finally feel amazing about yourself and about it.

You still have a lot left of your freshman year to experience. So, if you do not feel this change that I have mentioned quite yet, do not worry. You have two and a half months left and I can guarantee you the transformation you will find yourself facing, in the end, is incredible and promised as you exit your freshman year.