With finals behind us and the second semester of my freshman year over, I begin to look back on how fast and crazy my year went. During my year, I made a ton of new memories and passed many milestones, but I wish that I had been more prepared as I went into college. So here are a few things that I wished I had known before becoming a college student.
1. College is hard.
Not necessarily just the school work, but everything. Going into the year I was excited for the new journey that I was starting, but throughout the year, it began to get harder. Being away from my family, my boyfriend and my friends was extremely difficult. But calling home or skyping helped a lot in order to get through tough days. So do not forget to call your mom or dad once in a while. Not only was being away from home hard, but during the course of the year, the amount of school work will increase. Which leads to the second tip I wish I knew.
2. Keep up with your school work.
Even if you have an hour of free time, study or start an assignment that is due in a few days (or even weeks, if possible). Never take free time for granted. If you do, you have a better chance of getting behind. Getting behind with college work is the worst because you will have so many other assignments to worry about, that you do not have time to play catch up. Keeping up with your school work will also help your grades and your stress level!
3. You will eventually make new friends.
Just because you did not make any really good friends the first month of school, does not mean you will not make friends at all. My roommate was my only friend for a while, until I met other people — four to five months into the semester! Just because it does not happen right away, does not mean that it will not happen at all.
4. Never take a home cooked meal for granted.
This may seem silly, but really, never take a home cooked meal for granted. Once you are in school and have to eat the cafeteria food, day in and day out, you will start to crave your Mom’s meatloaf and homemade mashed potatoes. Another small tip, when you go back to school after a break, take as many leftovers as possible! But do not forget to give your mom her containers back or she will hunt you down!
5. Do not be so hard on yourself.
This tip is the most important to me and I really wish that I knew it before I started college. When I missed home or when I was really stressed with school, I got really hard on myself. There were so many times that I wanted to quit. I did not understand why it was so hard for me to readjust and become familiar with being at college. But I had to realize that it takes time and that is okay.
Being a college student and living on campus is a whole new lifestyle and it takes time to adjust to, but that is okay because these are the years that we are supposed to grow and experience life!
