To all the incoming college freshmen,

You're going to love/hate move in day. The drive to your college will be never ending and when you finally see the exit you're going to be overwhelmed with every emotion you could ever imagine. It's going to be chaotic when you finally get there. You'll think to yourself "there is no way I'll ever be able to move my stuff in with this many people." You'll look over at your parents and their faces will be blank, but don't worry they are excited for you... they're just going to miss you. Hug them tight before they go and call them. You're going to walk into your little shoebox of a room and think "there is no way I will call this place home." You will though, eventually you'll never want to leave it. You will eventually figure out you brought too many things you did not need and not enough of what you did need. You'll need to make a Walmart trip, but just wait because every place you go will be crawling with people. After a few hours of your dad trying to set up your printer you're going to get frustrated and want to yell at him to leave, but don't. Let him keep trying and let your mom arrange the room how she wants you can always move your furniture but you'll never get that memory back. You're going to want to force them to leave as soon as the last shirt gets put in its drawer, but let them stay because you'll have four years to get way too used to this new place you've been dreaming of.

Eventually that tiny room will be your safe haven and you will never want to leave it, but you'll have to. The day will come when you're about to take finals and head home for the summer and you'll think to yourself "where did all my time go?" You'll wish that you could just rewind time and have just a few more sleep overs. Don't ever take that little room for granted and be thankful for each day. You will hear people complaining way more than they should and it will get to you, so remove them from your life. When you are going through this transition you need people who lift you up. The people who are always complaining and always judging are not the people who will lift you up... and I am sorry, but their friendship will not last. You might go through a little time where you are confused by who the people are that everyone is always talking about you find in college and that's okay. You'll get to know yourself then. Don't let being the new kid be the reason you mess up over and over and over again. Study hard, pay attention in class, and enjoy it.

Sincerely,

The older kids