Moving away from parents can be so hard. From the good (no more curfew) to the bad (no more home-cooked meals), moving away to college will be the best year of your life.

1. DINING HALLS

You will learn during the first semester that Mondays and Fridays are the best days to eat the dining hall. That is when the school offers the best food in the dining hall locations. Go eat some breakfast and start the day off right by talking to the lovely, Ms. B. She is such a sweet, Godly lady and I am so happy she is able to put a smile on my face every morning.

2. CLUB ON THURSDAYS

Visit "The Way" and "Stilllife" on Thursday nights. You may even get lucky and go on a night that college students have FREE admission. BUT, be safe and always have someone with you, Greenville may be fun, but it's also a little sketchy sometimes as well.

3. LIBRARY PERKS

I can't stop repeating this to people, MAKE A ROOM RESERVATION. It ensures you will have a quiet study room to yourself, or to your own group. Even though the third floor is the "quiet floor," people still yell at the top of their lungs. 

And what is more fun than kicking people out of your study room that you reserved from 6:00 p.m-9:00 p.m at 6:12 p.m when you arrive late? NOTHING. Plus, if you can get a group study room on the first floor, you can watch Netflix on the TV..... Why not?

4. MEAL PLAN 

Okay, so with the lovely $2,000 meal plan you have to buy EVERY SEMESTER, you get these heavenly things called "Purple bucks" and "Pirate Meals". But what do they do? 

Chili's, Chickfila, Panda Express, Einstein Bros, STARBUCKS..... Need I say more?

Nobody wants to eat Dining Hall all the time. Take advantage of this form of plastic money (but don't go overboard)

5. DORMS

Living with myself was hard, imagine living with another person JUST LIKE YOU. I can't hate on my roommate, love her more than anything and she's literally the best. Living in a room smaller than your room at home, with another person is the hardest thing I've ever had to do, and its been a learning process. We both have learned to contribute our 50% share and we are always down for a Netflix night together with our best friends. 

Oh, yeah. Did I mention the friends you make your first semester (if you choose wisely) are there for you forever? So thankful for them. 

Just keep your roommate happy, contribute your 50% share of "room chores", and talk it out when your upset (I do this by asking to go get food), and you and your roommate will bond so closely.

6. Communal Bathrooms

Wanna know my least favorite part of freshman year? 2 words. Communal bathrooms. 

Something about sharing a bathroom with 30 girls, I really don't admire. In case y'all didn't know, girls are actually DISGUSTING. 

Shower shoes, robes, towels, wraps, non-drying shower caddies. We go through it all. Not to mention me and my roommate have a bag of 2-ply toilet paper we take to the bathroom because the toilet paper in there is RIDICULOUS.

My favorite part (sarcastically) -- walking into a shower and seeing a used tampon in there. I'll take the next shower down, please.

7. WALKING

Cross the road in front of that car. Do it. If they hit you, your college tuition is paid for the next four years. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that you are supposed to stop at a crosswalk, especially on campus, because college students do not care. 

And if you are driving around campus, STOP AND LOOK at all crosswalks, because do you really wanna be responsible for someones college tuition when you have your own loans to pay back?

8. FINALS

Welcome to HELL WEEK. Everyone crying, or drinking vodka straight out the bottle. 

If your looking safe places to cry on campus, here is your list: the library (everyone cries there already), the Mall while you repent for walking under the cupola as a joke in September, the back corner of the dining hall, the middle of the Brewster Building, Wright Auditorium (what happens in here anyway?), and on the bus, hoping it drives off the bridge. 

It's okay though, it will be over in a week, pass or fail. The good thing is that ECU gives 3 failing semesters until you are put on probation. 

9. Christmas Break

FINALS ARE OVER AND IT'S FINALLY TIME TO GO HOME. No responsibilities for a whole month! Finally a month long of all your home-cooked favorites, and PREEEEESSSSEEEENNNNTTTSSS!!! 

10. Family

The best part about moving off to college is learning how much family really means. You realize how much you miss them and how you should always spend as much time as possible with them whenever you are home.