Freshman year is all about transition. It’s exciting, fun, and also terrifying. You’ll learn a lot about your major, life and yourself. Here are the things they don’t teach you in classes, but you’ll learn sooner or later.
The people you meet at orientation will probably not be your friends past first semester. Don’t take it personally, either; your lives are moving a hundred miles an hour, and people will come and go for the first few months before everyone really settles in.
You will get tired of campus food. Don’t even lie to yourself. It doesn’t matter how good your campus food is, you will be so tired of it by winter break that you will beg your mom to cook for you.
You are literally about one in a million if you get along with your first roommate. The housing committee will tell you that they do professional matching and consider all of your interests and that they do all kinds of surveys, but in reality, most people either learn to tolerate or have to move out. Chances are they won’t be your best friend.
That being said, you will learn to tolerate people. You will have to respect people if you expect them do respect you back. You have to or you won’t survive. If your school is anything like mine, there will be a really rude girl in your hallway, someone who leaves the water running, someone who doesn’t shower, someone who yells at 2 a.m. for fun …The sad reality is that now you live with, eat with, go to class with, and are basically always with the same people. There will be ones who annoy you, and you have to learn to get over it.
Check your emails often. It may seem annoying and redundant, but my school relies on email. Most professionals and workplaces also rely on email, so it’s a good habit to get into now.
You do not need every pair of shoes you own at school. This was a hard one for me, but the school closet just cannot handle it. It got to the point where I took almost all of my shoes home just so I could have more space in my closet for other things.
Actually, you don’t need a whole lot of clothes either. I am a music major, so I have a lot of performances that require nice dress outfits. Other than a few dresses and some nice pants, I have a drawer of jeans and some t-shirts. By the end of the first semester, I was wearing the same outfits over again anyway and ignoring half of what was in my closet. No one notices and in the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter.
Don’t expect drastic lifestyle changes from who you were in high school. I had it all planned out. I was going to get up early every day, eat a healthy breakfast, dress super cute, do my makeup and hair... It took about a week for me to start hitting snooze until 20 minutes before class, which gave me just enough time to throw on jeans, put my hair in a ponytail, and grab a coffee. I am also still a procrastinator. My excuse is always something about how I work better under pressure.
You do not have to eat Ramen every day, despite the social stigmas. I always keep cereal and milk, popcorn, pouches of tuna, and bread and peanut butter. Those are some healthier choices, and they are just as easy. Don’t get me wrong; I still eat Ramen pretty often, but you get tired of it after a while.
It’s okay to take a step back. The amount of pressure put on today’s college students is staggering at times, and also dangerous. I can speak from experience that sometimes it gets too much with all the assignments, papers, projects, organizations, leadership positions, relationships, work, missing family and friends, recitals/performances… honestly, some days all I wanted to do was take a nap and eat ice cream. So I did. I never skipped classes in high school, and I didn’t skip any my first semester. But by second semester, I realized that every once in a while you have to take a break. Of course, you have to be self-disciplined and not skip like every other class, but I would say one or two classes a month is okay, as long as you know the attendance policy for that class and maybe even clear it with the professor first. Most professors understand because they have been there too.
Use your campus resources. Does your school have a library? They will have professionally trained librarians who can answer your questions or find answers for just about anything you need to know. My library offers an inter-library loan system so that we have access to books across the state. Does your school have a counselor? Do not be afraid to consult them for advice. These people have seen and heard it all. I am convinced that you cannot scare or surprise a counselor, and they are always willing to help. That’s why they chose this profession. Does your campus have a health center? Stop in every once in a while and make friends with the secretary or nurses. These are people who can really help you out in a totally unbiased way. I ran into some really embarrassing issues my first semester at school, and everyone in the health center was super understanding and just wanted me to get better. The best part about my health center is that it is free, and chances are yours is too. They also provide free lip balm, cough drops, ibuprofen, condoms, and STD testing.
Use a planner. Seriously. This is life changing. I write EVERYTHING in my planner, from assignments to test dates to performances to events I want to attend…It’s all in one place. Not to mention I got a super cute planner, too. I love that I can stay organized and not forget anything.
Don’t neglect your parents. Even if your relationship with them isn’t too great, they still care about you and are helping you to be where you are. I have always been very close with my dad. I seriously call him at least twice a day. There have been days when he answers and tells me to stop calling (in a loving way of course) because he is at work. But I know he cares and wants to know what is going on.
Take care of yourself. In addition to mental health, remember to make good choices about what you eat and how much sleep you get. Now that your parents aren’t around to tell you to drink your milk or eat your vegetables, you might not always make the best decisions. Try having fresh fruit instead of a donut or vegetables instead of chips. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water, too. The more stressed and busy you are, the easier it is to get dehydrated.
Remember to have fun. Some of the most fun I ever had was eating ice cream in the dining hall with a group of friends just talking for hours or taking Sheetz runs at 3 a.m. just because we could. College is about making memories. You’ll have enough bad ones from teachers, classes, tests, etc … go out of your way to make good ones that are worth remembering.
