College is a rite of passage. Once we get our high school diplomas, we must grow up and move on to bigger and better things. For most of us, our first bigger and better thing is college. It's probably the most intimidating yet exciting journey we can embark on in life. However, no matter how mature, sociable, intelligent or ready for college someone may think they are, the truth is that no one can ever be fully prepared until they are thrown into college life.

As a second-semester college student, I can say that there are quite a few things that I wish I knew before going to college. First and foremost, I wish that I knew how amazing my parents were. For some, the moment their parents drop them off and drive away is the moment in which they are the saddest. In my case, however, my saddest moment was when I was sitting in my room one day, weeks after being dropped off. In this moment, I realized how much my parents have done for me to get me to this point. But no matter how much I appreciated them in that moment, I would never be able to go back in time and show them the appreciation that I failed to show them over the past 18 years. I wish I knew how much they sacrificed to give me the life I have.

I also wish I knew how much I would miss home. I was very consumed by the idea that college would be my exciting new home for the next four years. While I do consider school my second home, it lacks the comfort that I had in my original home. Home is where I had my own room and space. Home is where I knew everything and everyone. Home is where the people I love were. I wish I knew that even though college is my new home, it will never compare to my first home, the place I can always go back to and be the most content.

In addition to missing home, I wish I knew how hard college life would be without my friends. There isn’t a day that goes by that I want to turn to my best friends and laugh at an inside joke only we would understand, or reminisce on a story only we would know. I love my college friends, and it's been great meeting so many new people, but I wish that I had known that there would be many times where I would find myself sad because I don't have my best friends from home to look back on the countless memories we’ve shared.

A few more things I wish I knew: you don’t always need to be drinking or getting high to fit in, you don’t need to make a million friends (a couple will do just fine) and you don’t have to eat all of the junk food just because it's unlimited. And I’ll leave you with this, I wish I knew how much I would miss the first 18 years of my life because while college is great, I was blessed to have had the life I did before starting my new one. Appreciate and live in the now, because once your parents drop you off and drive away, there's no going back.