We freshmen started out college thinking we were ready for school to start, to develop our own schedule, and to figure out who on earth our "college" friends would be. We all need advice (or a good laugh about) A) how to be yourself, B) how to meet your first college friends, and C) how to meet new people and just being okay with yourself, so here are a few things I have learned from the first week:
1) During these first few weeks you are meeting tons of new people which, of course, leads to some pretty awkward encounters. But those awkward encounters allow bonding to occur over some weird fascination with a TV show or the fact that you both love Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, so we just need to learn to be okay with those awkward encounters and accept people for who they are.
(http://giphy.com/search/meeting-new-friends)
2) Everyone needs a "class" buddy. Those people that you find in each of your classes that you always ask questions and hope that they know the answer (which you, of course, return the favor for). These are those people that, whether it be walking to class, studying at odd hours of the night, or brainstorming the best time to go get dinner within all of the studying, these people will become an intricate and important part of your life and an absolute necessity to find.
(http://giphy.com/search/studying)
3) The other major thing we are all struggling with—that no one better deny—is that meeting new people is a struggle. Not meeting, as in introducing yourself, but meeting to remember their names so that the next time you see them walking across campus you have the opportunity to say "Hello!" This helps you feel as though you know more people than just your roommate or high school friends and that you are making sure to establish friendships that will truly last a lifetime.Those same people that we were talking about are hard to find.
(http://giphy.com/search/does-anyone-want-to-be-my-...)
4) The most important thing that this week has taught me about meeting people is to be yourself no matter what (even if that does mean showing a little crazy).
(http://giphy.com/search/greys-anatomy-interns)
5) Introduce yourself to EVERYONE. These people are going to be around for the next four years and some the rest of your life; you never know who that is going to end up being.
(http://giphy.com/search/mean-girls)
6) And, lastly, being okay with asking for someone's name again. Everyone is having the same name game struggle that you are, so never be ashamed to ask again. Every freshman is in the same situation, so you might as well ease the name game tension.
(http://giphy.com/search/learning-names)
But always, ALWAYS, be yourself; that makes everything a completely different story.
