I can now say that I’ve attended the college of my dreams for one full year, and I’m so happy to be able to say that. I thought, now that I’ve finished an entire year, that I would look back on my first year and talk about some of the things I’ve learned this year.

First things first, my most important discovery this year was that I wanted to change my major. I know that most college students change their majors at least once, but the feeling of discovering something I really loved and could imagine doing my whole life was so thrilling. After deciding to switch my major, I definitely spent more than a little time every day just looking at all the neat classes I’ll be able to take with my new course of study.

I have learned that I have no clue how to flirt. I’m single and eatin’ Pringles, because I have no flirting game. I know how to get really anxious and glance across the room at someone, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t count as flirting. Maybe as I watch all my friends meet great people I’ll learn how they do it and be able to up my game. Or maybe I can attend a seminar on flirting? Just throwing out ideas here.

I now know that if I need to, I can make $15 cover food for an entire week. Perhaps I should have learned better money management with my dining dollars instead, but it’s a little late for that. Especially since I was living on campus with no vehicle and fairly far from home, it suddenly became very important that I use my money wisely, even though I struggled a little at the end.

Speaking of food, I am a pasta pro. And by that I mean I can make basic spaghetti, mac and cheese, and ramen. So I’m the average college student really. But I did get to test out some of my baking skills without my mom around, and it turns out I can make a delectable strawberry shortcake (and gluten free, too).

Finally, I have learned so much about who I am. I know more about what I really love, what things are priorities to me, and the morals I stand for. I know when my breaking point it, and I know what will make me angry enough to do something about it. I know what things I can just let go and not stress about, and I know what’s worth enough to me to stress over. College has taught me about myself.

The most important lessons we learn at college aren’t always the ones we learn in class, and I think that’s part of why going to college is so important to me. We all study different things, but I think we can agree that college teaches us a lot more than what’s in our textbooks.