Freshman year is the best year of our lives that we're glad we don't have to do again. 

Ignorance is bliss can only go so far when it comes to talking about freshman year at Michigan State, YOLO is highly overused and walk to class is a foreign concept.

If there's one cliche I could pick to define my freshman year, it would be, "work hard, play hard." Like in high school, so many freshmen get caught up in the scene: the huge area, the massive amounts of beautiful people, the daily social events and the yearning to make new friends and find your place.

It's way too easy to not work in college because, honestly, no one cares if you do. As most of us know, lying to our parents and saying we went to class is far too easy and it's not like our professor will notice with a lecture hall of over 200 undergraduate students. I'd say around three-quarters of the way through fall semester, the reality of how hard you really have to work as a freshman kicks in. This is real life; you, and only you, are accountable for yourself. Some are freaked way out. They don't realize that this is actually a big deal that requires a fair amount of discipline and responsibility. Freshmen year sets the first path to the rest of your life. Scary, I know. 

What's even more scary is that within the first week, you'll see more cops -- on horses, on bikes, in cars -- than you have in your entire life. Yet, people are running the sidewalks of Grand River, roaming the alleys of Cedar Village. Frankly, my first night I feared for my life. I walked into my first open fraternity party and thought I was surely going to get roofied, arrested or beat up. No, none of those things happened to me, but they're a real thing. There were far more times than I'm willing to admit that I was ditched by friends at a party and ended up roaming the city of East Lansing at 2 a.m. in the rain. Yeah, I was that girl. 

Once I put some work in, and learned how to get around, found a favorite cab driver and realized that book smarts are very useful in real life, I began taking advantage of the social scene at MSU. With at least five parties on any given night, playing hard is definitely something most freshmen learn to master. In fact, I recommend it. Never again in your life will you be this young, with this little responsibility, with so many new things to explore, and such naivety to release.

I fell in love with my freshman year. I would be lying if I said that some of the best lessons I learned during that year weren't outside of the classroom (another cliche), but I would also be lying if I said that I hate class and all I did was party. I had a perfect balance between both, which is the exact beauty of being in this place -- you're able to figure it out for yourself. I'm relieved it's over and with how much I know, compared to this year, but I'm proud to have been that lost, insecure, weird freshman because she made me who I am today.