It’s been a little over two months since you’ve been at college this year, and you’re finally getting the hang of things. You (kind of) mastered the bus system, and (kind of) figured out how to do laundry. You’ve gotten less sleep, met more people, and even though the school work keeps trying to drag you down, you’ve managed to stay afloat. Hey, go you! Although this time in your life is a whirlwind of never-ending craziness, remember to take the occasional moment to think about yourself. Now is a perfect time to look at the person you are today and the person college is shaping you to become.

I, for one, believe that college offers an incomparable opportunity when it comes to meeting new people. How many other times in your life are you thrown into an environment with a two-mile radius chock-full of thousands of people your age? This great possibility to broaden your social horizons gives you the ability to reflect on who you are as a person, and to be presented with a new perspective through everyone you meet. Chances are, you will be introducing a new outlook to those you meet as well, expanding their views, as a strikingly different individual with a new and vibrant outlook on life. Soon enough, you’ll be surrounded with the people that you can be your crazy, weird self with. Lucky for you, this isn’t the judge-y years of middle school and this isn’t clique-y high school anymore. One of the best parts of college is that literally nobody cares. At all. Nobody is going to hate on you if you don’t keep up with the hottest styles or don’t love Justin Bieber (even though his new songs are actually bomb). So do what you want. Do what you feel.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about the social side of college, it is that there are so many different types of people the idea of “fitting in” is nearly impossible. It’s challenging to figure out what blending in at college would even consist of. There is so much diversity in the student body that there is no way you can successfully fit in everywhere, so why bother? Every aspect of your past and the experiences you’ve had gives you something different and significant to offer the world and your college. Stay true to the person you are and where you’ve come from, because it was those exact influences that led you to where you are today.

While staying true to yourself includes remembering your morals and values from your past, it also encompasses the new changes. After all, college is one of the biggest times of change and uncertainty in your life. So, when you go back home for Thanksgiving break, and your family and friends mention that college has changed you, I hope it has changed you in the best way possible. I hope your first few months of this semester were full of exciting people, newfound knowledge, mistakes, and the beginning of finding who you truly are. Finally, if you aren’t so happy with who you are right now, this is just the beginning of the four years that lead to the rest of your life. Personally, I still have a long way to go, but I’m already so proud of who I am today and how college has shaped me thus far. So next time you’re out and about with your new college friends, remember the words of my homeboy Hozier because there’s “no better version of me I can pretend to be tonight.”