As second semester has begun, I have done my fair share of thinking about everything college has taught me in just the past few months.

College is definitely a roller coaster. At some points, you may feel on top of the world, and then at other points, you may feel like everything is crumbling down around you.

That's the thing, although there are ups and downs, college is fun, college is a once in a lifetime experience, and college will bring some of the most unforgettable memories, so we have to learn to let loose and take advantage of every opportunity we encounter during our college careers.

At the beginning of college, I thought I had it all figured out. I thought coming from high school I had great organizational skills, excellent study habits, oh, and a sleep schedule. College really knows how to throw you a curve ball on that one.

The first semester of college I remember constant nights of no sleep due to cramming for a test I was completely unprepared for, feeling overwhelmed by trying to sign up for 20 different things and coordinate times for them to not overlap, making sure to balance friendships and school, making sure to meet new friends, oh, and of course, finding some time in that busy schedule to make a much needed trip home.

College tests you to your limits. You will learn how long you can go without sleep, you will learn how capable you are of completing a project in one night that should have taken two weeks to complete, you will realize who your true friends are by seeing who stands by you through your ups and downs, and most importantly, you will grow to appreciate your family more than you ever imagined you would.

As a freshman, I have gone through all the common ups and downs. For instance, the downs would include needing to do laundry but every washer is full, coming home from a long drive to search for a parking spot for over an hour, getting tired of the food on campus but not wanting to spend money, feeling like you have not slept in over a week, trying to find time to hit the gym with the busy schedule of college courses, accidentally signing up for those 8:30 a.m. classes that you soon realized were impossible to handle, missing home but not knowing when you can make a trip home again, studying hours for a test only to receive a failing grade, and, the most common, being extremely overwhelmed all of the time.

Although there are downs, there are also many ups. Those would include meeting friends you know you are going to keep for the rest of your life, learning who you really are and the type of person you want to be, thinking more about the future and what you want to do with your life, learning to appreciate things to the fullest, having a whole new support system to lift you up when you are down, and most of all, having the time of your life while going through all these ups and downs.

Yes, college will be hard at some points, but I can already tell it will be the best four years of my life.