1. All the papers

Many of us have received warnings from our teachers that we’ll be writing several papers a week during college, but did we really believe them? Nah. Once you’re in college, you’ll realize that your English teacher wasn’t an evil woman or man making you practice writing papers for no reason; all the practice truly will serve a purpose.

2. The late nights

In college, you’ll spend several nights up until later than 2 am—this will happen more often than you think, guaranteed. Half of these nights you’ll be working tirelessly on homework, papers, or studying for exams. The remainder will be nights filled will sleep-deprived laughter shared with your closest friends, enlightening conversations that are so deep that they simply can’t be discussed until it’s past midnight, and consuming probably a tad too much junk food.

3. The amount of money you spend

Between food, clothes, and…. let’s be honest, more food, your wallet will feel lighter than ever. You’ll (hopefully) learn a lot about budgeting your money in college and learn to manage your money much more responsibly.

4. The freedom

No matter how many people have tried to explain to you how much fun it’ll be to live at college, you won’t understand it till you’re there. The exhilaration of getting to decide for yourself when you want to eat, what time you want to wake up, if you are going to hang out with your friends, or whether you want to spend the entire day in bed. You’ll learn a lot about decision-making and begin to consider the consequences of your decisions with much more thoughtfulness.

5. The free time

Although you usually have a ton of work even in your first semester of college, you’ll also have considerably more free time. Not having to sit in class for eight hours frees up almost an entire day. However, it’s important that you learn to budget your time appropriately so that you don’t end up spending your entire week napping and have to write three papers on Sunday night.

6. How nonjudgmental people are

Contrary to what high school was like, in college, most of the time people really don’t concern themselves with what you do with your life. It’s less about the fact that they don’t care about you and more about the recognition that everyone undergoes difficult experiences and it’s unfair to judge some as valid and others as invalid.

7. How good the food (here) is

I can’t speak for every college of course, but I can certainly attest to the fact that the food at Rollins is extremely impressive. Although it’s not perfect, the Rollins food provider caters to a wide range of dietary needs and does a pretty good job of providing a variety of food options.

8. You begin to view college as a second home

Although nothing beats spending the night in your own bed in the house you grew up in, it’s undeniable that you begin to view your campus as a second home. Once you visit home you’ll realize how much you miss all of the familiar faces you see around campus, the daily slumber parties with your friends, and even your tiny dorm room and bed.