I love back-to-school season. For me, it's always been full of possibility and excitement. Freshly sharpened pencils hold the promise of stretching your brain, strengthening your friendships, and scribbling down better notes. Thanks to the weirdness of a double major and summer school, I ended up finishing my college degree just as a new crop of freshmen ended up back on campus. So, for you newbies, here's my advice:

1. If you’re a freshmen and don’t want to drink, grape soda in a red solo cup looks an awful lot like jungle juice.
2. Ask questions. Don’t apologize for curiosity. Ask more questions.
3. Take pictures. Don't delete the bad ones. You'll miss them later.
4. Your relationship with your roommate will transform a thousand times. She will be a stranger, a lifeboat, a confidant, a pest, a point of tension, and a sister. Get to know her.
5. You’re allowed to be sad. You’re allowed to be angry. You’re allowed to be jealous. You are entitled to your own feelings, even if they’re ugly.
6. How you react to those ugly feelings though? That’s character.
7. The difficult conversations are the most necessary ones. Mean what you say.
8. Come to terms with your body. You’re responsible for it now. It deserves to be made to feel good. It deserves to be your friend.
9. There will be times when you are surrounded by crowds and still feel desperately lonely.
10. You will find your people.
11. Respect the academy. People have thought long and hard about these subjects way before you came along, and they’ll think long and hard about them far after you leave. You don’t know everything. You probably don’t know anything. If you’re lucky, you might have something valuable to contribute to the conversation.
12. Learn to advocate for yourself. You are the only one who knows what you need. You deserve to be heard.
13. Don’t apologize when they tell you you’re too idealistic.
14. You will learn to like the taste of coffee—also the taste alcohol.
15. A road trip alone with some good music will heal almost any heartbreak.
16. There will be heartbreak.
17. If your classes are easy, take harder classes. Never be the smartest person in the room.
18. Don’t apologize when they tell you you’re too idealistic.
19. Spend time outside. This may be the most beautiful place you ever live.
20. You will get swept up in someone else’s pure unbridled passion for their thing, before you realize it is not your thing. It’s okay to walk away.
21. You will fall into ruts. There will be days (or weeks) when you won’t want to get out of bed, and it is your friends that will drag the covers off you.
22. Hold those friends tight.
23. You will be a part of something bigger than yourself. A team, a club, a sorority, a community. Give yourself over to it. Let it change you.
24. If you are upfront about your vulnerabilities, people will be kind. People want to be kind.
25. Be present. Four years goes by faster than you think.