Now that I am a sophomore, I can look back at the awkward moments of last year with a critical eye. I know that I did a lot last year that was really great, and some things that weren’t. There are so many things that I wish I knew when I first came here. Here are just some of the highlights.

1. Just because you are from Delaware does not mean you know where you are going.

I spent at least an hour walking around this campus with my mom the day before I moved in. It was hot outside and I thought I knew exactly where I was going because I had gone to Halloween parades and Newark Community Days since I was little.

I told my mom (pretty snappishly) that I didn’t need to walk my schedule and know where I was going, that I could figure it out the first day. She made me walk around anyway, and I was still lost on the first day.

2. Your roommate and floormates don’t have to be your best friends.

I came into college thinking that my roommate and I would be besties (and I got lucky this year to choose to room with someone I click with), and was disappointed when all I really could do with my roommate was exchange civil conversation after a day of class. I also expected that people would be writing on whiteboards on doors and hanging out. I was severely disappointed.

I have close friends now, and only two of them lived in my building last year.

3. If you don’t clean up, your room will consistently look like a refugee camp.

I was never one to clean up my room unless I absolutely had to, and by no means did college make me clean. That being said, if you let your room become sloppy, it gets gross quickly, and the when you do decide to clean, it’s going to be 10 times worse than it would have been if you just made your bed and put your dirty laundry in a basket.

*Still working on this tip this year*

4. You’re not as cool as you think you are.

I thought that college was going to make me into some sort of popular, mythical being somewhere between Regina George from Mean Girls and a unicorn, but discovered I was my same nerdy, dorky self that was still tripping up steps and being too loud and making people annoyed in the library.

Sidenote: I also discovered that being “cool” in college is not a thing. Everyone is cool to someone.

5. Drinking isn’t nearly as popular on college campuses as movies make it sound

I can admit that I attempted to go to one, and I do mean ONE frat party last year. I was turned away at the door after being given a once-over by a very gorgeous, very stereotypically “fratty” frat guy. I was a little annoyed that I had walked a long time to get there only to not get in, but I realized that there were hundreds, and probably thousands, of students here that weren’t trying to go out and drink, and there is no shame in staying in, watching a movie, and staying sober and “boring.”