When I received my high school diploma, the one thing I can vividly remember is how I felt knowing that in three months I would go to college. It was a terrifying but exciting feeling to know that I would be able to pick and choose an area of study to delve into that would I would be immersed in.

Showing up on move-in day I again had that same terrified but excited feeling, what was different about it this time though was that college was actually happening. It was not something that was far off anymore. I didn’t know what to expect from any of my classes or even if I would make friends. This would all change soon though.

My first good friend at college was one of my roommates. She really helped me get through the first semester without being a complete mess. We would study together, go out together, and get food together. Soon, my circle of friends grew and I had a bunch of new people around me that I considered to be best friends. I think having the kind of friends I do at college is what made the first year of it somewhat easier than I expected.

When classes started, I was surprised that the amount of work I had to do was far less than I had to do in high school. This was a huge relief to me because I was so afraid that I would have no time to do anything but school work, this wasn’t the case though. What was interesting me about schoolwork too is that I actually somewhat enjoyed it because I was learning about things that I actually was interested in.

College made me realize that I needed to surround myself with positivity to succeed in school, and I ended up cutting people out of my life who I realized were toxic and brought me down. I also realized that I didn’t have to lose my high school friends when I went to college either. So many people had told me that I would lose most of my high school friends when I went to college and I found this to be false.

If anything, the relationships with my high school friends got stronger because in the little time I did got to see them I made the most of my time with them. I loved being able to see them when we were all home together and we got to catch up on what college life was like for each other.

Going to college made me realize that people definitely over-hype the amount of fear you should have going into your first year. The reality of it is that as long as you keep up with your work and you put the time into study, it's much easier to do well. This in turn relieves pressure so you can go out with your friends on weekends if you want to. The college environment is so nice because you're put in a space where you can actually learn what you want to learn, and you have much more time to actually grasp the information.