When I went to college I thought I’d learn about the world.

I thought that my brain would overflow with the influx of new knowledge, and that my world views, ideas, and morals would be enlarged, tested, and ultimately grow.

Although some of these things did happen, I’ve learned a lot more from college than I initially thought I would.

I came into college with a blind freshman ideology that my learning curves and lessons in life would be inside of the classroom, not out. I assumed that my biggest struggle would be keeping up with my schoolwork, and the intensity of my classes.

Now, as a junior, I can tell you how truly wrong I was.

I can say with full confidence that although I have learned a great deal in college in regards to academics, my true growth and learning came in areas that don’t involve a classroom setting.

Now, on the cusp of 21-years-old and preparing to study abroad—I have become quite nostalgic for the years that have passed, and as I look back on them I have realized how much I have evolved since move-in day freshman year.

1. On friendships...

When I left for college I left behind an incredible, accepting, friendly, and supportive hometown with a set of friends that I’d had since elementary school. They were all I had ever known, and all I needed.

Since coming to college I have made life-long friends, lost friends, nearly lost friends, and cut people off completely. The relationships I have made in college remain ever changing but it is through these experiences that I have been able to see more clearly what it is I look for in friendships.

When you arrive on campus for freshman year, everyone is sitting in the same boat.

This is a new environment, with new people, and everyone is pretty much alone. So you make friends, but overtime you may begin to see that those relationships are flawed, or maybe downright incompatible.

Once you arrive in college, you can see fairly quickly what types of people you want to surround yourself with, and those who you don’t. It took me a few months to see who I wanted close to me—and who I didn’t— but ultimately its made me a stronger friend. By knowing what I want, I enabled myself to devote more to those I know that I want in my life.

It's strange how quickly you grow up in college. I left my hometown having the same three best friends that I had all my life, but three months into college I saw new friends come and go; I saw other friendships thrive; and I emerged myself into finding friendships within my newfound sorority sisters.

2. On The-D-Word (Dating)...

I realized very quickly that dating culture in college sucks. It's is rare to find a man with manners, or find one organically and not through some catfish app. The true nature of a date is not being your arm candy at your party of choice for an evening or receiving a text past 11 p.m.

I don't want to meet someone through a jungle juice offering at a fraternity party, despite how "endearing" these boys might think this exchange is.

College taught me that the best thing you can do for your "dating life" is to stop using all forms of social media past 10 p.m.

Truthfully, I thought that the guy I left behind senior year of high school was flaky. I thought that he was afraid of feelings and only hit me up when it was easy for him?

I didn't realize the dose of reality I was going to encounter in college.

Feelings are like the oil, and boys are water—especially in college. College boys don’t even try to mix the two and, on the rare occasion that they do, it usually ends in disaster.

Don’t enjoy a sweaty frat basement? Not a fan of weirdly mixed drinks? Do “dating” apps seem unappealing? Does every guy you meet seem to be permanently emotionally unattached? Welcome to my world.

I learned very quickly that not only did I have absolutely no patience for most of the guys at my school, but also I learned exactly what I was looking for—because most of the guys I had met were nothing close to what I wanted.

College has this unspoken tag attached to it that makes boys go absolutely nuts. It is as if they have been told their whole lives that once they graduate their lives are over. So might as well live it up while you can, and this is the only "explanation" for why college boys are so insufferable and utterly unbearable.

But college students need to know that (for the sake of their dating lives) the sun will rise and aliens will not invade the globe when they leave college.

But I’ve made peace with it and moved forward. Although the guys at school drive me up a wall, they’ve helped me learn more about the type of relationship I want to find, and maybe that relationship isn't in college?

3. On Adulthood and Growing Up...

Not only did college teach me about my friendships and relationships, but also most importantly it’s taught me more about... me.

Through all of these experiences I learned what I want for myself in life, where I see myself after college and the adventures I want to embark on.

The girl who stepped through that freshman dorm is not the same girl who is writing this in the comfort of her junior year housing.

I thought I wanted to be a Marketing major with a minor in Spanish, but today I am a double major in two completely separate subjects. I'm pursuing a study abroad program. I've become a leader and take on new opportunities every day. I am headed in a completely separate path than I had ever thought I would have, and have fallen in love with ever aspect of the new city.

College has enabled me to push myself past my comfort zones, and my usual boundaries because I am experiencing all of this by myself, for the first time, and figuring it out along the way.

I may not have found my best friends here at school on the first day, and my knight in shining armor most likely isn't sitting in my 8 a.m., but that’s all okay because I have learned more about myself, who I am, what I like and don’t like.

Most importantly I’ve learned what makes me happy.