The transition from high school to college is one of the most important transformations in the life of a young adult. After spending a whole year as the “big guys” in school making memories with the people you’ve grown up with your whole life, you’re forced to leave everything behind, live with new people, and figure out your way through life on your own.

As senior year ends, all the talk about college begins and everyone tells you about how much fun you’ll have, all the great new things you’ll be able to do, and how college will be so much better than high school ever was.

However, no one can truly prepare you for what lies ahead, not your parents that have been there themselves, or even your older friends that have just recently went through the same transition.

No one can prepare you because everyone’s journey is completely different and custom fit to them. You will never know what to expect until it happens to you and you’re sitting in your dorm room thinking about how much your life has changed in just four short months.

In the matter of four months, you’re living with another person, most likely sharing a bathroom with people, walking around five miles a day to get across campus (if you’re at a big school), and trying to balance a life of partying with a life of constant studying. You go from having all the power in the hallways of your high school, to being at the bottom as a freshman again feeling the pressure to fit in and make new friends.

Looking back on my first semester as a college student, I faced challenges I could have never imagined, but also overcame them with the amazing new people I met, as well as with the best friends from my past, by my side. This has helped me become more of the woman I was made to be.

Although I made new friends and new connections with people, I also kept the old friends I needed close to me. This is the kind of balance that some people never figure out, thinking they must leave everyone from their past after high school. But, the truth is, certain people are meant to be in your life always, whether you’re at the same school or not, and if this kind of special bond exists then the distance between your school and theirs will never actually matter or affect your friendship. You know you’ll always have them no matter what.

Through my first semester, I was able to keep the past relationships I’ve formed that mean the most to me, as well as develop new relationships with the people I’m now surrounded with every day. Basically, I’ve learned that even though you transition to a life on your own, and you feel more independent than ever, the people you have in your life still do, and always will play an important role in your transition, and it’s up to you on who you want those people to be.

College is all about life transitions that transform you. Even after a life of eighteen years with your parents, and a life on your own sounds pretty good, don’t forget that you still need people on your side. Because although yes college is fun, and exciting, and free, it also gets tough when adulthood and responsibilities set in. It can get lonely, and that’s when you will realize you need your friends and family most.

No one can really prepare you for what lies ahead, because no one knows what the future holds. But this is your life now, and although there is still a lot of unknown, having a set of new friends at your school, as well as keeping the important people from your past in your life, can make the bad times better, and the good times even greater. Finding this balance is essential, and I’m so glad I found mine. Just because you are at the stage in life where you are transitioning to a life on your own and transforming into a better man or woman, doesn't mean you have to go through that transition alone.