Dear Therese,

You are about to start a short but important journey in your life. Remember when people kept telling you that "college is nothing like high school?" Well, that's only been partly true so far.

You'll be surprised to find that Western is a lot like your high school; the same kind of people, similar extracurricular activities, a similar town surrounding it. Overall, it has a similar vibe, so you're going to settle in quickly, which is something that I know that you should be thankful for.

Speaking of thankful, you're going to be feeling that a lot throughout the next nine months. For starters, you're going to be thankful that home is so close. College is the first time that you're not going to be going home regularly and see your family as much as you want. Being able to go home at any given weekend with ease is going to be such a blessing. Another thing that you're going to be thankful for is the new friends you're about to make, who you're going to meet in all sorts of different places across campus, from clubs, classes, and even your neighbors!

You're going to be thankful for their support, in times of good or bad, and the killer advice they're going to give you. This is also going to make you feel thankful that you chose Caitlin to be your roommate because you probably wouldn't have conquered your first year of college. In short, there's a lot you're about to be thankful for, but most importantly you're going to be even more grateful for your family. You're going to find out pretty quickly that not everyone has the same amount of support and love from their families as you fortunately do.

You're going to learn a lot, both inside and outside of class. You're going to learn how to become a better writer, learn about intermolecular forces, and hopefully improve your math skills. You're also going to learn that no one is always going to be paying attention to you and your actions, that making a good first impression is important but not crucial, and that you're going to be alone a lot and that's OK. What's most important is that you're going to grow a lot this year.

The most important part of your first year of college is that you're going to have a lot of fun. Lots of fun events and places, lots of late-night pool games and mall trips. Lots of new memories.

So as you start your first quarter of college, make sure to keep an open mind, learn a lot, and have fun!

Sincerely you, but in nine months.