After finishing my first year of college I have learned quite a few things about how to succeed and how to fail. I came to college and wanted to get involved: I wanted it to be a good four years, so the earlier I started, the better I realized it would be. I looked at those around me: some, like me, were eager to participate in many things that college had to offer. Others, however, were not trying at all to get involved, and they walked out of the year with bad attitudes and subpar experiences. At the time, I didn’t truly realize how important it was to try to fill your time with things to do. But looking back at my first year, I have realized that the people that didn’t make an effort were those who didn’t enjoy their first year. You have so much free time in college: you spend so little time in class each day, that if you do nothing but that, you will have a lot of other time of doing nothing. And the more time you have doing nothing, the more likely you are to be homesick, bored and lonely.
College is a time of new beginnings. It’s the first time that you are living on your own in a new place, surrounded by new people. It is important to branch out and meet new friends. I decided to go to a college where I knew almost no one. I had a few familiar faces around, but no one that I planned on being best friends with once we got there. It is oftentimes difficult to make this decision to branch out and go an unfamiliar place. But going to a school where I knew no one was one of the best decisions I could have made. So many of my friends from high school and before went to colleges where tons of their friends and classmates were going, and what I hear about most of them, is that they all still hang out with people they already knew before coming to college. All of my college best friends I had never even met before we got there, and I am so thankful that I was able to branch out and meet these incredible people.
So, ask that girl in your English class if she wants to grab lunch after class; she might turn out to be one of your best friends. Join a new club that sounds interesting to you. You won't have a good experience if you don’t put yourself out there, try new things and meet new people. You get out of college what you put into it. Have the best four years of your life? Or the worst? The choice is yours.