This week starts orientation activities at Columbia College and I'm sure for other campuses all across the country. I'll be a senior this year and I've been thinking back on my freshman year experience and I'd like to impart some advice to incoming freshmen to make the transition smoother. There are some things that I would change about my freshman year. I don't have any regrets, but there are some things I would do differently.

I was lucky enough to come to college with one of my best friends, Emma. Her aunt went to our school and we both fell in love with it when we visited. The small college feel was exactly what we wanted. We signed up to become each other's roommates and everything was falling into place. I didn't feel as nervous because I had a built-in friend before I even started college, but that would soon prove to be a drawback in some ways.

One of the hardest parts of going to college is being alone and making friends. I never felt this pressure because I had Emma and it would be easy to make friends if I had her, right? Wrong. We thought it would be easier to make friends, but in reality, because we were best friends, we inadvertently alienated the people around us. I think people felt intimidated to try to talk to us because we were so close. For a while, we hung out with two other people, also roommates, and they were pretty much the only people we become close with.

So my advice to freshman is this: go to all the orientation events. This is where you will meet people who are in the same situation as you, alone in a new environment and unsure of what to do. It might seem scary at first to go to the arcade night or the event at the rec center, but it is so worth it. Even though I already knew someone, these events were where I met all of the people who would later become my lifelong friends. These events were where I connected with them, found out where their hometown is, what their interests are and so much more. It was so fun to meet all these new people and learn more about them. This is a super important part of the college experience. Meeting new people helps you feel a sense of community on campus and in your dorm.

Freshman year can be so many things for different people, but I hope that you go out and meet new people because it will be so worth it later on. The people I met freshman year are still my good friends and it was all because of those orientation events, so give them a chance. If not to meet new people, then maybe for the free food.