Dear fellow second-semester freshman,

Congratulations. We have survived our first semester of college! Whether we welcomed the fun side or got way too involved in your classes, we're one semester down with (hopefully) only seven more to go. We definitely learned a lot during the first semester like we can only procrastinate so much before it all catches up to us and have all your work done for the week by Thursday because we probably won’t do anything past Wednesday night. We know now that we should go to class even when we don’t want to or that maybe those extra Netflix TV shows weren’t a good idea. Our bank accounts probably makes us want to cry harder than the women on "The Bachelor," but lord knows we did it.

We'd like to thank all the nice teachers out there, and the coffee shop workers who knew our coffee order like the back of their hand by the end of finals week. But most of all, we’d like to thank (or smack) ourselves because, at the end of the day, we got what we put into our first semester of college whether good or bad.

For those that had a difficult semester, the bright side is you can learn from it.

We’re back to college for a brand new semester and remember that feeling you had when you saw your final grades and think, “Alright, time to get your acts together.” Experiences teach you more than anything, so now you’ll arrive back to campus having a better grasp on what you need to do and how you’re going to achieve it.

You’ve made some friends by now who can help hold you accountable for your actions. Don’t be afraid to ask for their help. Don’t be afraid to ask for anyone’s help. You have a question about something going on in class, email your professors.

Go to the library or study room. It’s much easier to get work done when you’re placed in a work setting. There are fewer distractions, and there are tables to spread your stuff out, which will help with organizing what needs to get done and allow you to not feel cramped up.

Always reward yourself for your hard work in some small form. It can be as small as an ice cream cone, but small rewards make you feel good about your achievements and motivate you to keep going.

Don’t forget to still go out and have fun. Life is short and college is far too short to not have a good time and enjoy it. This is the last time in our lives where we can choose our schedules (like those 11 a.m. classes) and do what we want for ourselves while still having a little bit of help from mom and dad. Think you’re poor now? Wait until we’re a few years older paying rent, groceries, bills and your parents cut you off. So work hard and have fun. Sure, your first semester was a little bit rough. Maybe your grades weren’t quite what you wanted, but here you are! You’re okay, and guess what? You’ll be okay next semester and every semester following that too. Don’t forget that.

We are all in this together!