We don’t all wear skin tight black faux leather skirts with crop tops and over the knee boots.

We aren’t all boy obsessed and do the walk of shame every weekend.

We don’t all get awful grades and skip our classes.

I am one of the few who had to mature very quickly at a young age. Adults always compliment me for my strength, maturity and determination. Typically, these are things you don’t hear often as a 12-year-old. I was someone who through all four years of high school, never caught a break. I was always pushing myself one way or another, usually it was me trying to balance treatment, with good grades, after school activities and a summer internship. I never had much time to relax and unwind, and I didn’t want to either.

Now that I am finishing up my freshman year in college, I am happy with how this past year has gone. This was the first time I finally let myself catch a break.

No, I didn’t slack off and skip my 8 a.m. classes due to hangovers or waking up not knowing where I was. Contrary to popular belief, many people still make it to their 8 a.m. classes regardless of what happened the night before.

I pushed myself Monday through Thursday doing schoolwork until early morning hours. Fridays, I had no class. This meant that Thursday night until Sunday night was free time.

Going into college, I knew this time would be valuable. I could choose to hang out with friends, go to a party, go away for a weekend, or go home and do absolutely nothing. This was the time I would use to let go and figure out who I am.

Most weekends I go out. My friends and I get all dressed up, and do our hair and makeup for hours. Depending on the day we might just be going to a bar, a restaurant, or a party in the North End.

Now, I know what you’re thinking…how can one find themselves by going out partying?

Trust me, I never had the intention of it happening this way, but it did.

Quick side note for those who don’t know… going out and partying does not always mean getting drunk.

I realized that having a night to let my hair down with my girlfriends brings me pure joy.

Going to a party is a great way to meet new people.

Having drinks and watching "The Bachelor" with friends is a huge stress reliever.

I have found out I enjoy surrounding myself with people who have the same mindset as me. I surround myself with those who have a strong work ethic. They too push themselves to great lengths during the week and the weekend is their time to let go. We all value friendship like we never have before. We quickly realized it’s not about how long you’ve known someone that makes them a good friend (cause we can’t go a few days without each other and we haven’t known each other a whole year yet).

We also push each other to be the best people we can be. We realize we all make mistakes, fall back, or have a really shitty day, week, or even month sometimes. Regardless of all of that, we lift each other up and remind each other of our amazing qualities.

Yes, we like to go out and party and have a good time, but that’s not all there is to us. We are so much more than your average college students who like to go out on the weekends. We have so much more substance than that.

Often times people associate “party girls” with getting bad grades and doing the walk of shame in the morning. Most of us aren’t like that at all, and even if we were, is it really your place to judge?