As you’re packing your bags, you must deciding what clothes to bring with you and how to say goodbye to your family and friends. You soon walk onto the grounds of the university and into the essence of your dorm room, knowing now that this is your home for the next four months. Four months: it seems like so much time away from home. How is it possible to complete four months when you don’t even know what’s to come of the first day? Your hands are shaking, your heart is racing, and your anticipation is at its peak.

The first semester of your freshman year of college is nothing less than a never ending rollercoaster that most likely will not come down the entire time. For me, I turned to my new best friend on the first night and said, “my life is already completely different,” and it was. I knew for a fact that I was going to change as a person and my life was going to change as a whole. That is exactly what happened.

As previously stated, this experience is a rollercoaster. Whether its making friends, getting used to your classes, experiencing your major, joining clubs, joining fraternities or sororities, getting involved on campus, finding a group of people that you can call your own, falling in love, or falling out of love and finding yourself.

As amazing as all of these things can be, if you’re not careful certain things and certain people can get the best of you. Whether it is getting mixed up with the wrong group of friends, growing uncomfortable in a group or organization you got in, making poor decisions in social situations, or falling in love with someone you would have been a lot better off not had fallen in love with.

All of these scenarios can take your mind away from the more important things in life, like your real friends, your education, your family and much more. For me, I made the mistake of getting involved with some wrong people that led me to go through some of the hardest times in my life and unfortunately. I can say honestly that I let that consume the majority of my first semester of my college career. Personally, if I could go back and do it again, I would and wouldn’t at the same time. I would because of the pain that was experienced. On the other hand, I wouldn't because it taught me what I know now, on a much larger scale and that is this:

Going into my second semester of my freshman year of college, as cliche as it may sound, I have learned that you genuinely need to take care of yourself before anyone or anything else. That means focus on school; it sounds irritating and difficult, but that will help you get somewhere in life. Focus on what you want to do with your major and how you will get there and what kind of impact that will leave on the world and yourself. Focus on the most important friends in your life and spend your time on them. Not those who don’t want a part in your life. Don’t waste your time, because it is purely is nothing but a waste of time. You will quickly learn who is real and who is fake. Therefore, you will quickly learn who to have stick around and who is worth your effort. I cannot stress this enough. Focus on your family, because they are the ones that will be there at the end of the day, no matter what.

Finally, focus on yourself. First semester is all about learning: learning right from wrong and learning things you want and things you don’t want. Don’t let another semester go by where you can think of more regrets at the end than positive aspects. This will come when you learn how to take care of yourself. I was always one to hear that and think it was completely irrelevant, because how much can you, just one person, do? The answer is, a lot. With that, second semester is all about leaving the negative behind and taking the positive along for the rest of the ride.