Freshman year of college is said to be one of the hardest times of your life. As I'm now right in the middle of my freshman year, I can confirm that this has been the hardest year of my life so far. The good news is, I am getting through! I am loving my college experience, and although it has been hard, it has been worth every second. Through the ups and the downs, the good and the bad, the best and the worst, every moment of my time here has been a learning experience. I remember moving in, and even though it was only 10 short weeks ago, it feels like a lifetime ago. My family stuck around for most of the day, and when my family left, my roommate and I looked at each other like, “now what?” The first week was a huge adjusting week for me, but after classes started, it got better. Slowly, I started figuring out when the best time to do laundry was, what food I would actually eat from the grocery store, where to hang out around campus, and the best places to grab food with friends.
The best part of moving in was immediately the freedom. All throughout high school, I was a pretty trustworthy kid, so my parents let me do most of what I wanted to do. Of course, college is different because there is literally no one to check in on you and see where you're at. Realizing you can do whatever, whenever, is a weird feeling, but quickly makes you feel like an adult. I love the freedom. It is so fun to pick what you want to do and just be able to go without ever having to tell anyone what you are doing. In contrast to this, the worst part of moving in was realizing that being an adult is hard, and failing is a little inevitable. Whether it was failing first tests or failing to remember to do your laundry, college quickly became very hard. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned about college is that you have the freedom to fail. For the first time ever, you are out on your own and you are supposed to fail. No one is automatically awesome at “adulting” (though I will say some are better than others), and the transition isn’t really super awesome for anyone. Honestly, failing is not my favorite thing, no one ever really wants to fail, but through having the freedom to fail, I have learned so much.
Because of this freedom to fail, I have had to grow a lot as a person. Failing has had two really great outcomes. The first is, I’ve had to learn to lean on my faith, and I’ve really got to see where I’m at in my walk with Christ, and I've been able to continue to nourish that relationship. The second outcome, is the friends that I have made here have all grown closer together through shared struggles. Growing in my relationship with Christ and with my friends has made the failures of college much easier. Even though I have hated failing at things and not being perfect at attempting adulthood, I think the failure has built character within me and made me a better person.
My friends have quickly become my absolute favorite part of college. It is such a blessing to pray for sweet friends and have that prayer answered a few short days after moving in. I am friends with people I didn’t know 10 weeks ago, who I now consider some of my favorite people. Knowing my roommate from high school made my transition much easier, but meeting other girls so quickly was such a blessing. I had a great friend group in high school, and I was so sure I was going to get to college and never find friends that were anywhere near as good as my old ones. I have been so blessed by my new friends here, and although my old friends can never be replaced, my new friends rock. I honestly have no idea what I would be doing or if I’d ever be surviving college without my new friends. Meeting friends so quickly was such a blessing and I am so thankful they have been with me through my college experiences so far.
College is definitely a place where growth happens, I think you especially grow a lot during the first semester of your freshman year. There is just so much change and so many different people around you all the time, that you can’t help but grow in ways you have never been able to before. Being exposed to so many things and opportunities is so different than anything you’ve experienced before that and all of a sudden, you are finding yourself agreeing and disagreeing, liking and disliking, and takings stands on things you couldn’t before. You are now intelligent enough to start forming real opinions on things, and that’s exciting. You are learning and growing and you get to decide who you are and what you want to be, and while that is so scary, it is also so exciting. They weren't lying when they said freshman year would be hard, but freshman year also comes with so many great rewards. It is the start of something new and exciting and different than anything you've ever done before. I encourage all of us who are walking through this new stage of life known as "freshman year," to be brave and take time to figure out who you are and who you want to be. While failure might be inevitable, success is right around the corner, and that failure is going to grow and shape you into who you were meant to be. So dear upcoming second semester of freshman year, we are ready for you! We are stronger than ever and can't wait to see where you take us.
