You will make tons of friends in college. College gives you a chance to find yourself. You get to discover the person you are and the person that you want to be. I am sure each of you have been told that by someone before and either rolled your eyes or let your heart bounce at the thought of something so life changing. However, these are only a couple of things that you have probably heard a lot of times. I am not here to tell you something that you already know. I am here to tell you what a lot of people neglected to tell me.

Many different things happen in college. You get to discover religion, politics, picking your major, moving on your own, turning 21, etc. You have many choices to make. You get to decide when you should go to bed, when it is time to study, if you are going to try the alcohol you are being offered and if you want to get up on Sunday to go to church. In college, you no longer have anyone there to tell you what to do. Each of the choices that you make defines you; it shapes who you are going to become. I am not saying that if you drink once, you are going to become and alcoholic; rather, I am trying to say that you made the choice, and this choice reflects something on you.

I want you to know how crucial college is, how lucky you are to be here and how important it is to do some stupid things. It is OK to be friends with the girl who wears black all the time, to take the philosophy class even though you swear you want to be an accounting major and to stay up all night writing a paper because you were too busy last weekend. It is OK to accidentally sleep in and miss class one day. What I really want you to know is how much these four years will change you. How the people you befriended will leave, will stay, will change, will be part of you forever.

I have met some pretty amazing people in college. I have found a way to grow my love for writing and occupational therapy through my college experience. I realized how important my freedom of speech is in college. I became a better daughter in college. I became Jasmine in college.

So enjoy college while you can! Spend all night watching Netflix on your computer even when you have an 8 a.m. class in the morning. Change majors, forget to call home, remember to go to church. Learn who you are without your parents around. Embrace feeling uncomfortable; don’t be afraid to make friends with the random person who sat next to you in class — that’s one of the best decisions I have ever made. From the bottom of my heart, college has been the best time of my life; promise to make it the same for yourself.