So many times when I was growing up, teachers and adults in my life referred to high school as “the promised land.” So you can only imagine my disappointment when high school was all but a detrimental train wreck, full of short-lived friendships, meaningless work, and ultimately turned out to be an utter waste of my time and stress. There were many points for me in high school as well as for many others I’m sure, where I thought “If these are supposed to be the best days of my life then what the hell did I sign up for when I said I’d go to college?!” Before getting to Truman I felt like I was 14 years old again: Worried about making friends, finding my classes, and just attaining a general state of happiness. However, upon arriving, I realized that college was well worth the wait and suffering through high school, and here’re 7 reasons why:

• Some of the best friends I’ve ever had I have made in the last 6 months.
• You realize who you are.
• You learn to embrace your awkward side.
• The food sucks, but you can get as many plates as you want!
• Sweet, sweet freedom.
• You learn that money actually is, indeed, “a thang”.
• The worst days of College are still better than the best days of High School.

College is so different from anything I have ever experienced. As an athlete, I am around my teammates more than I was around my family at home, and honestly, I know more about them than I ever really wanted to know. But it’s amazing. Because you’re living with these people and it’s like nothing you’ve ever done before. In high school, you get a break from your friends, but in college, you LIVE with your friends, and as a result, you open up to them in a way that’s different from what was possible in high school (or at least for me, anyway). You see these people at their best, and you learn to admire them, but you also see them at their worst and you learn to take care of them, and through those experiences you gain friendships that will last a lifetime.

Yes, I realize how cliché this sounds. But think about it, in high school, you are weighed down by all the expectations of your peers, coaches, teachers, and family. What they expect you to do, what they expect you to like, how they expect you to act, dress, talk, you name it. When you get to college, all of that goes away. No one knows anything about you (except for what they can piece together from your Instagram posts and the things you retweet on Twitter) and you can finally make yourself into the person you’ve always wanted to be. It’s like getting to start all over. In high school, you wouldn’t have caught me DEAD watching reality TV, but here we are, early March of my freshman year and I haven’t missed an episode of the Bachelor yet. And do I feel ashamed? Absolutely not.

I have 2 words for you: Pre-season. These were the most awkward two weeks of my life. I did not know a soul on the soccer team and I was living with 2 random girls from Illinois and forced to hang out with 3 other rando’s in my class all from the St. Louis area. They talked about this weird place called “Schnuck’s” (like seriously, wtf is a Schnuck’s), they like the Cardinals (bleh, go Rolls), and for some unknown reason they seem to think they like, own Panera Bread and they call it “Bread Co.”. But in all honesty, I wouldn’t trade those two weeks for anything. We were all in the same boat, and even though we sat through some gnarly awkward silences and I had multiple conversations with the same person about the Women’s Open 1600 Meter Run, it was during that time that I learned to embrace my weird personality and the weird personalities of these new, beautiful humans whom I was going to have to deal with for the next 4 years of my life.

Yes, I know we are all hoping for some drastic change in food quality from high school to college, but sadly, dorm food is not much better than high school cafeteria food. However, if you hate the first thing the lady with no teeth slopped on your plate, you can go back up and try every other option you want (although none of it is guaranteed to taste any better than the previous option). You begin to learn the things they can’t screw up: Cereal and Pizza, and so you can see why carb loading is all the rage among many college students across the country.

But seriously, the food is not as bad as everyone says it is, and it is actually pretty possible to eat healthfully if you want to. Sometimes, at Truman, they even do this thing called “Premium Night” and they make us steak! And your meal plan has already paid for it as long as you have a swipe left to use. How fantastic is that?

Being a kid is fun and parents are great, but the freedom you get in college is just as amazing as everyone says it is. Go to sleep when you want, wake up when you want, watch Netflix when you want, go to class when you want (but of course I ALWAYS go to class), clean your room when you want, fold your clothes when you want; you get the idea. But with great freedom does come great responsibility, and if you don’t learn how to balance the things that are important into your daily routine along with the things that are fun, then you will find yourself on a sinking ship, my friend. College has really taught me how to effectively manage my time. I do often feel very stressed out, but even on my hard days I’m still doing things I love and finding time to take breaks, and by the grace of God I am still somehow sleeping more now than I was in high school.

Theoretically, you shouldn’t actually have to spend very much money in college. Your meals are paid for and it’s all you can eat, (if you go to a smaller(ish) college) everything is in walking distance so you don’t really have to drive, and you’re limited on space so you can’t really afford to cram any more gray sweatpants into your drawers…

Oh, but you can. Dorm food gets boring and repetitive, you find reasons to drive places because your legs hurt from walking that treacherous 10-minute walk from class to class (and not to mention up all those stairs), and you realize that you’re not actually going to try any harder to look cute now than you did in high school, so you actually do NEED more sweatpants. But by the time February hits, your bank statement is more of a “Warning: Turn Back Now”, and the next thing you know, your Bank of America Account has negative 6 figures. This sucks while it’s happening, but it’s a good lesson to learn before you actually have bills to pay.

I don’t know you on a personal level. I don’t know what your experience was or is currently like in high school. Some people love those 4 years- Shoot. Some people peak during those 4 years (am I right). But I’m betting a lot of you are just like I was. You were so excited for “the promised land” of high school, and then you got there and you realized that it’s actually terrible, kind of like that episode of Spongebob when Mr. Krabbs promises Krabby Land and Krabby the Clown but really it was just some random buckets tossed together and him with a blue tomato on his nose. But even if you hate(d) high school, don’t worry. That’s not the promised land. That’s not even the main dish, or the appetizer even. High school is just the complimentary water and chips you get at Mexican restaurants. College and life after high school is the appetizer, the entrée, and the churro for dessert. Don’t get me wrong, you still might have bad days, and you still have to go to class to pass. But I promise you will make better friends, better memories, and realize who you are while you’re here, and maybe you’ll even manage to come out of the whole charade with a degree.