It's your first week of college and you are probably having many mixed emotions and are feeling just a tad overwhelmed. Whether you’re at a local college in your hometown or a university hundreds of miles away, you finally made it, college. Move in day comes and goes, mom, dad, and your siblings move in your essentials, hugs, kisses, and goodbyes are exchanged. You turn around and are now faced with a new life. New people, a new home, and new experiences are all at your fingertips. What will you do with your new freedom? I am currently a month into my freshmen year of college and am loving it but with the freedom comes responsibility. The first week of college can set the bar for how you want your semester to go. I composed a list of what I learned my first week:

1. Make friends with people in your building

Making friends with people in my building was one of my best decisions. It requires little effort to just walk upstairs or down the hall to be with your friends. I made friends with the guys in the room directly above me which was a great decision on my behalf because now I don’t exactly feel bad sending them the daily text to be quiet. In the harsh cold winter nights and rainy days having friends nearby will absolutely beat the alternative of hiking across campus to the other dorms.

2. Call your mom before she calls you

Probably not even hours after my family left, I had already texted my mom a full-on paragraph of what she needed to bring next time she visited and later received a phone call on my behalf and she gloated at me for being the first one between us to ‘crack’. Be the first one to call your mom she will cherish that and it will show you are thinking about her as much as she is thinking about you.

3. Do the campus events planned for the week

I cannot stress this enough. FREE food?? You are crazy not to go. The University and RA’s work hard to plan these events for everyone to meet people. Go get free stuff and meet some people even if you only stay for twenty minutes. I met some of my really good friends during a campus relay race and looking back I am so glad I went.

4. Make friends with the RA

I love my RA, simple as that. Go to the floor or building events your RA sets up. They spent time planning and setting up things for you to do and give you an opportunity to get to meet people so go a little out of your comfort zone. Stop by your RA’s room and say hi, give your RA some of those extra cookies you have. My RA addresses all my roommates and I by name and we all love when he stops by. Making friends with your RA will help you out in the long run if you ever run into a little niche.

5. Learn some new recipes because dining hall food is pretty subpar

I cannot tell you how much it already sucks having to make Mac N Cheese, Ramen, or having to truck it to the dining halls for meals where I find myself looking at some very ancient lettuce and a dry & unflavored chicken breast. Coming from a family that really knows how to cook is a blessing yet a curse. Nothing will ever come close to mom's homemade spaghetti and it's difficult to accept the fact that I am going to have to stick it out until I have a free weekend to jet home. My advice to you is have your mom teach you some recipes before you leave for college or try out something new on Pinterest.

6. Do not take classes on Friday

At all costs possible do NOT take a class on Friday. Some of the most fun I’ve had in college so far has been on Thursday nights and you do not want to be the one that is going to have to pay the price in the morning. I know in some situations a Friday class is unavoidable so just be smart about how you use your Thursday night. Trust me when I say it though, the three day weekend is something to cherish because it makes the whole week just a bit more bearable.

7. READ your course syllabus

The course syllabus is your game plan. The professor's contact information, test dates, and the professor's grading point system is all at your fingertips. Use this to your advantage. A lot of my professors include what will be lectured over for the day within the syllabi and when the test dates are. Read it over, do not miss anything!

8. Exercise

Odds are you probably don’t have the best diet at this point. Beat that freshman 15 by spending some of your free time in the university gym. A free gym on campus? Count me in! A lot of university gyms will offer group classes you can take for free or little money. Use these to your convenience! They’re a way to get motivated and fit. Get a group of friends together and plan to exercise one day of the week together, whether it’s a run through the park, an exercise class, or just a day of stretches. Exercises can relieve stress and clear your head so use the free facilities for your advantage.

9. Get involved

Whether it is Greek life, a club, or intramural sports getting involved in college is such a great opportunity for you to do something you enjoy and meet people. If you used to do sports in high school try out intramural sports, you can do it for fun or competitively. Greek life isn’t for everyone but if you think you might be somewhat interested go through recruitment week. A club portraying to your major is a really great opportunity as well and will introduce you to teachers and upperclassmen that can help you throughout your college career.

10. Make friends with upperclassmen

In high school if you were a freshmen hanging out with seniors and juniors you were either considered a little odd or too cool for school. What I love about college is that is really doesn’t matter, we are all here to get a degree and make the best out of our college years. Making friends with upperclassmen is great because you know you can ask them anything about college and not feel stupid about it and they are always there to give you advice.

11. Eat breakfast

In high school I never ate breakfast because I would wait till the last possible second to jump out of bed and head straight out the door. Recently, I actually started to eat breakfast in college because I had more time in the morning and it is a game changer. You aren’t trying to shut up your growling stomach the whole morning and you have so much more energy. Do not skip breakfast.

12. Cherish the sleep you get

If it comes down between waking up thirty minutes early and dressing all cute for class or using those thirty minutes to sleep in, sleep! Cherish those extra moments of sleep! We all know no matter how much teachers tell you, you will try to cram in studying the night before, go during the day to the library with a study group then you can go to bed when you get back to your dorm instead of trying to cram in testing at night when you are only half awake. Plan accordingly and you will have a lot of extra time for sleep.