Whether you commute or live on campus, there is no way you are not stressed about your first semester of college. They tell you that in college you will make the friends you have for a lifetime, meet potential spouses and hopefully get a degree. Whether you are moving a few towns over, across the country or across the world, it is totally normal to be scared about what will happen next. If you are anything like myself you didn't or do not know what to expect college to be like, coming from the oldest sibling I was the first to go off to college and so far this is what I have learned:
1. Freedom
This does not mean go out and party every night. This also does not mean stay in and binge Netflix because you will piss off your roommates either way. Find a happy medium and do what you are comfortable with; just because your new friends go out every night does not mean you have to. Remember why you are at college.
2. Value Your Alone Time
After packing my summer days with beach trips, bonfires, shopping and working, I realized I was not home 98% of the time and if I was it was between the hours of 3am and 8am. I didn't realize that I would be thrown in a place (a.k.a. residence halls) that are filled with people your age and are in the same position of you. The hardest part is trying to find a place to have your private phone conversation. If you are anything like myself, you take these opportunities and try and meet new people in your building, most of them are going to be around for the next 4 years. In the end, you will realize that to stay sane and to stay true to yourself you will want to be alone sometimes.
3. Friends
Just because your new best friend lives across the hall does not mean you should visit 24/7. Yes, you want to make friends and be part of 40 different clubs offered on campus but you need to make time for yourself. This kinda goes into making time for yourself although you do need to make friends because these could be your life long friends. The people who are your future child's god parents, the ones they call auntie or uncle. This is also when people say you meet your "soulmate." They could be in your classes or maybe just a friend of a friend. Either way you need to actually get out of your room to have fun to really enjoy your college experience.
4. Money
I say this with deep regret that I did not save enough over the summer to have the spending habits I do this fall. That being said, if you go to school somewhere in or close to the city then you should save more than you think. Being a freshman means a lot of colleges do not let freshman have cars on campus so Uber, the subway, and the train are going to be your transportation. If you don't have to pay for your own insurance or gas then yeah I can imagine that a car is the cheapest and easiest way of transportation. Either way yes, this does suck. You can always get a job on or off campus which would solve this problem but you have to remember college is not like high school, you are a student 100% of the time so if you do get a job it's going to be stressful and you will have to be well organized but you will have cash to burn or be able to start paying off your debt.
