Nine months ago, I packed up my life and I shed some tears as I hugged the few friends I wasn't bringing with me to college. I remember thinking how much fun I was about to have, and how I had no idea what was waiting for me when I got to San Diego State Univeristy. I thought of all the plans I had already made for the coming year.

I had so many expectations for what was to come, I thought that this first year was something I could map out because that's what I had just spent four years doing in high school.

Unfortunately, for me, my plans fell through. I made mistakes, I lost friends and I was naive to think that my first year would be anything like I planned, because college isn't like high school at all.

I was on my own. This is real life and your plan doesn't usually work out how you want it to, but that's not always a bad thing. I mean my plan was going to give me a great year with the people I loved most at the time, but now nine months later, I have realized that I couldn't have planned to have a better year than I did. It had nothing to do with the number of times I went to the beach or things like that, it was all about the people.

Instead of keeping the friends I had when I started school, I became best friends with the louder, more obnoxious versions of myself, a crazy girl from the Midwest, and a frat guy.

If you had asked me in August if I thought these would be the people I would love to spend all of my time with, I would've thought you were crazy, but I'm so happy it happened. I am absolutely sure that the friends I met this year will be in my life for a long time if not forever, partially because of how well we get along and partially because I will never let them leave me.

My first year of college was nothing like I thought it would be, and yours probably won't be either, and that's totally OK.

The best advice I can give is to go with the flow -- if life isn't going how you want it to, fix it. You can get involved with clubs, talk to the people in your dorm or try your best to get along with your roommate.

Trust me when I say you'll wish the first year was longer and you had more time with the people here, so don't spend all week waiting for Friday nights, some of the best memories are made on random Tuesdays anyways. Don't spend all year waiting for summer vacation because you're going to miss your friends like crazy. And don't spend all of your college experience waiting to start your life because this is it. So do yourself a favor, and throw out your plans and just live.