(http://www.sororitylyfe.com/sororitylyfe/beginning...)

Everybody is always so fast to tell you all about the first year of college. They fill your brain up with all sorts of horror stories that have you dreading move-in day. Or, they give you a deluded fantasy of how amazing it's going to be that makes the real thing seem full in comparison to your expectations. Here's the truth behind the first year away at college-the things that nobody ever tells you, even though everybody knows that it's true. I don't know why college students and college alumni act like this is all some big secret, but I wish that somebody had told me this side of things before I started, because it would have saved me a lot of breakdowns and nights spent alone in my dorm room, drowning my sorrows in Netflix and ice cream. Obviously this isn't universal and it's not going to be exactly the same for everybody, but it's a pretty fair generalization that I think the majority of college students will find relatable.

1. No matter how confident you are about your choice of school, you're going to have doubts at some point.

It doesn't matter if you toured dozens of schools and carefully analyzed every possible outcome before coming to a conclusion or if you walked onto campus and immediately knew that you had found the place you were going to call home for the next four years. At some point during the first semester, you are going to break down in your dorm room and wish that you were home. For some people (me) it happens during orientation when you think you'll never make friends and you're not as smart as you thought you were. For other people, it's when the second semester begins and you realize that the hardships that came with your first semester weren't just because it was your first semester. For some people, it's at a random moment in the first year-- or in any of their four years-- and it comes on randomly. Just know that this is the lowest point, and as soon as you get over the panic, you're immediately going to find your place and know that you made the right choice.

2. The friends you make in the first few weeks aren't necessarily going to be your friends for the next four years.

Just like in high school, people change. Sometimes, because people are just as scared and nervous about making friends as you are, freshman group together and form large groups that seem inseparable based on orientation groups, majors, advisors and roommates. Eventually, due to different classes that students take and the activities they join, they're going to branch out. It doesn't mean you won't still be friends. But it does mean that the people who you spend every waking second with during orientation may not be the people that you take random road trips with after class to hit up your favorite fast food restaurant after a rough day of classes and they most likely won't be the person you break down to when you're stressed about classes. The group of people I hung out with for the majority of my first semester was completely different than the group I had by the end of my second, but I wouldn't change any of the experiences with any of those people for the world. Appreciate everyone that comes into your life, regardless of how long they stay.

3. CONTRARY OPINION: Odds are, you're going to meet your best friend during orientation.

(https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/cristina-yang-quotes)
While I don't still have the same close knit group of four girls who did everything together that I had in my first two months or so of school, my current roommate is the girl who I met on the first day I moved in. She was in my orientation group. We had the same major and were on the same track. We didn't speak until the last day of orientation, after we both hit our lowest points and had the breakdown that I talked about during the first point of this article. Now, we're absolutely inseparable. We do everything and anything together. When she has a rough day, I surprise her with Dunkin and her favorite candy when she gets out of work. If I have a bad day, she takes me to the next town over to grab some Moes instead of eating in the dining hall. Look for the friend that you're content driving town to get your bearings with, not the friend who needs to constantly be out and about. Because the friend that you can sit in total silence with is the friend who will always be there for you. She's going to be your person (you can thank the girl this point is about for the Grey's reference, because she got me hooked).

4. Even if you never watched Netflix in your life before moving into your dorm, it is going to become the most important thing in your life (or, at least, one of them).

(https://www.facebook.com/geeklyrocks/)
Take it from me. I didn't have a Netflix account before I moved into my dorm and aside from watching a few movies whenever I stayed at my sister's house during my senior year, I hadn't even used Netflix before my first year started. Now, it's the background noise that helps me through my day. You're going to become addicted to it, so talk to your friends and use the Recommended for You list. You're going to want to know what your next show is before you finish the one you're one, because most of the time, you'll have Netflix open in another tab while you work on your homework. Even if you aren't staring at the screen in awe of Chad Michael Murray in OTH, you're going to be listening to the plot line like crazy-and often times you're going to close the current tab and enjoy staring at the Scott Brothers like they're God's gift to humanity-because they pretty much are.

5. No matter how smart you were in high school without studying, do not think that the same work ethic (or lack thereof) will help you in college.

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Because it won't. And getting good grades in high school doesn't necessarily mean that you're "smart", because that word means nothing in the real world. There are multiple aspects to measuring intelligence and grades are actually pretty meaningless. In college, everything is different. You need to work for your grades and an essay you could have pumped out in thirty minutes back in high school and gotten a 98 on now requires at least an hour to get a B, at the most. Most essays require planning, revising, and maybe even some help from a professor or a student center to get a solid A. Grades are not easy anymore and, unfortunately, while they still don't truly measure your intelligence, they matter more now than back in high school. Because you're paying for these classes and failing one class means a lot of money spent to take it all over again.

6. People are lying when they tell you that you can skip class whenever in college and your professors won't care.

(http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/36bouj/)
You can skip whenever you want, that's true. You have the control on when you go to class and when you don't. Here's the problem with that-your professors will notice and they will care. Most of my professors took attendance every day and only gave four allowed absences. The work needed to be made up and you were responsible for any notes that you missed that day. But, they'd at least be willing to meet up with you and discuss the material, if they knew about your absence beforehand. If the professor didn't care if you missed class, it meant that they weren't going to give you any help in making up what you missed. Because they give you the right to come and go as you please, since you're an adult, but they also expect you to be able to be responsible enough to take care of your own work and education.

7. You aren't going to be "just a number" to your professors (at least, not if you go to a small college).

I picked a small campus because my high school was small. I was used to having teachers that knew everyone's name and respected us as people. I was terrified that my professors were going to view me as being "just another student" no matter where I went, but I figured a small campus would give me a little more of a fighting chance. I ended up having classes with professors that knew my name, my face, and even remembered random personality traits I had. One professor that I had in my first semester remembered my brother's name, despite the fact that I just briefly mentioned it once at the beginning of the semester. Another knew that I loved musicals and gave me suggestions for theater groups I could get involved in in the community around my campus, since our college only did plays each semester. Long story short, sometimes, you may be just another student. But most of the time (at least on a smaller campus) your professors still try to get to know you and treat you like the adult humans you truly are.

8. The food in the dining hall isn't disgusting. It's repetitive and sort of plain, lacking any real flavor.

Seriously, it's not as bad as one would think. Students are always going to complain and act as though its much worse than it really is. The biggest problem is that nothing has any sort of a real flavor, because it has to be a simple meal option when its being served to hundreds of students. And it's going to be repetitive, because there is only so much that can be offered to a wide range of individuals and enjoyed by the majority of them. So, don't whine about how they're trying to poison you or they're feeding you crap. Because (at least on my campus) it's typically healthy and the best that they can do when serving such a large amount. It's never going to be a home-cooked meal, but there are many things that are far worse than Sodexo and other dining hall meals.

9. The size of your dorm room isn't the real problem. The thin walls and your neighbors are the problem.

(http://www.nexthaha.com/)

You definitely aren't used to having somebody living on the floor above you. And I promise you that you're going to believe that the people who live in the room above you are elephants. Because their every move is loud and obnoxious. You'll become accustomed to living in close proximity with another human being. Your life will become pretty routine and you're going to be able to deal with the issues that come with living with another person in a 12 by 12 space. But nothing will ever make you grow comfortable with the constant banging come from the room above you. Because you're never going to be comfortable going upstairs to demand silence and even when you reach your breaking point and do that, they are never going to be at the right volume for you.

10. You and your roommate are not going to "click" right off the bat.

You may never become best friends with them and they don't always remain true to you. My roommate and I, going into freshman year, thought that we were set for the next four years. We'd been talking via the Quad app, texting, and following one another on all forms of social media for months. We had hand selected one another and we had our entire dorm room picked out and perfectly coordinated. After a few months of living together, we knew that it just wasn't going to work out. And it ended up tearing apart our friendship. We see one another around campus and we're more than polite to one another, but we lost the best friendship and we aren't roommates anymore. Other freshman have far worse stories. It's not an easy adjustment to start living with some person you just met, even if you are at the same point in your life. Even if you have a ton in common. You're completely different people and there is no promise that you're going to mesh well with one another. Don't think that you did anything wrong if it doesn't work out. That happens to most people freshman year.

11. You don't lose your high school friends.

FUN FACT: You learn which friends from high school are actually true friends and you grow closer with them. The more distance between you guys, the stronger the test of your relationship with them. And even better? As you meet new and amazing people, your circle of friends grows. You aren't replacing the people you've known for the past 18 years when you go away to school. You're just adding some new people into your life. I have made some of the best friends of my life at college (shoutout to my roommate and best friend) but I wouldn't have made it through some of my roughest moments or be the person I am today without the help of my best friends from high school. Never forget where you came from just because you've started a new chapter in your life.