So you’re an incoming college freshman. I can imagine how excited you are, how college is practically all you can talk about, how you’ve spent months counting down the days and now it’s finally only days away from the beginning of your journey.
Soon enough, you’ll move into your dorm room, and you’re probably going to be a big ball of emotion. You’ll unpack your clothes, dress your new bed with your brand new comforter set that you picked out just for your new dorm room, you’ll meet your roommate, the person you’ll be living in this small dorm room for the next eight months or so with. Your parents will have to say goodbye to you and leave you at your new home, full of strangers that all seem to be as excited as you are. This is all very exciting. It’s also a bit overwhelming. Definitely take the time to have a proper goodbye with your family. No matter how long or how short you’ll be apart from them, this will be a big change, and you will want that closure when you lay down to sleep at night and you realize you’re not under the same roof as they are anymore.
Don’t be embarrassed of your teary-eyed mom and your dad who is now sitting comfortably on the couch of your common room, trying to figure out how to get ESPN on the college’s cable. Your family is where you come from and you may as well embrace it. You are going to meet a ton of people from a variety of different backgrounds and you will find that your family is unique, but also similar to many others. It is yours and you cannot change that. Make sure you don’t ever feel ashamed about where you come from. There’s no reason to ever be ashamed of what has shaped you.
That being said, don’t shy away from the friendships you may have put on a physical pause. Stay in touch with your high school friends if you want to, but know that you don’t have to stay in a high school state of mind. Everyone will be moving on this year and lots of things will be changing, so make sure you remember that everyone is now on slightly different journeys. The constant support from people you grew up with will likely put you at ease, even if it’s not in person. Every once in awhile, send a text or a nostalgic picture to your high school group chat, telling them you’re thinking about them and all the good times. You can never get those days back, so don’t go wishing they never happened.
When you get the chance, call your parents. Call your grandparents. Call your siblings. Call your hometown friends. If you can, video chat with them all. You have no idea how it brightens their day and you’ll be amazed what a pick-me-up it can be on a tough day. Even if you only have time for a five-minute-call on the way from class to the dining hall, call your mom instead of scrolling through Instagram as you walk there. Try and stay connected with the people who aren’t always present, but who are constantly supporting you, even if their encouragement is silent.
When your professors try and talk to you after class, don’t blow them off. Chances are, they are really interesting individuals teaching you and you can learn a lot more than what is in the curriculum from them. Take the time to go to office hours when they offer them and not only stay up to date with the class, but engage yourself in a relationship with your professors. Not every professor will be over friendly and some may even seem cold, but keeping an open mind about this will help tremendously in forming connections that could very well help you in your future endeavors. Be responsible for yourself, keep yourself organized. Make sure you study and don’t wait until the night before your final exam to start reviewing. College is no joke and you’re only going to get as good of an education as the work you put in. Take it seriously and you’ll appreciate it when the final grades are posted.
The most important advice I think I could say is don’t hide from all of the “cheesy” college activities. Get dressed and go to the dance with the girls on your floor. Go play volleyball in the quad and go to all of the Welcome Week activities. You’ll likely get free stuff with your college’s name printed on it and you’ll be surrounded by people who are just beginning the journey with you. Talk to strangers, introduce yourself. You could be sitting in the auditorium with your future bridesmaids, your future husband, your future wife, your lifetime friends. But you won’t discover this if you don’t show up. Even if sitting in your dorm room is comfortable and easy, this is not the time to shrug into your normal routine. Force yourself to get out there and start this once-in-a-lifetime experience. This is the absolute perfect time to step out of your comfort zone because everyone is feeling the exact same way you are.
There is so much to feel anxious about, but try and curb that anxiety. Instead of feeling anxious, focus on feeling excited. Because there are so many new processes and steps that warrant anxiety, those processes and steps should also warrant excitement, anticipation and happiness. Don’t let your emotions overtake you. Just take it one day at a time, trying to be as present in every situation as you possibly can.
If you don’t automatically find people you click with, don’t stress. Plenty of people sit alone in the dining hall, plenty of people walk alone in the hallways. That’s the beauty of college. While everyone is on the same journey, we are all individual people who are all at individual points in our lives. Some people are immersed with people all the time and some are immersed in their studies constantly. There are also plenty of people somewhere in between those two extremes. No matter where you find yourself, let yourself fit right in. Find yourself, embrace yourself. Don’t be afraid to be someone you weren’t a month ago, or a year ago. You have an opportunity to be everything you’ve ever wanted to be and to do everything you’ve ever wanted to do, so take that opportunity and tackle it head on.Be there. Give it your all. You’ll thank yourself later.
