To the girls who are living in my Freshman room,

I want you to know that this room is full of memories and magic. I can’t tell you how many late night chats, pranks, tears, laughs, heart-to-hearts and friendships that were made in this room. From late night binging on Grey’s Anatomy to ordering pizza on a Sunday because you were all too lazy to go to the DC, this room has seen it all.

This room has seen the tears of questioning your major, tears caused by boys, tears caused by other friends and tears of happiness that you passed that Economics class.

This room has heard the laughter of jokes among friends, the belly laughs from hiding someone’s mattress in the stairwell and the laughs that came after your roommate tried to do a flip off her lofted bed. So much personal growth happened in this room and decisions about who we were and who we wanted to be.

I want you to stop and look around every once in a while and realize how perfect or hilariously imperfect your life is right now. Your life will never be the same way it is right now. Living in a dorm is one of the best things about college. You will soon miss being 5 feet away from all your friends. You might fight with your roommate, get a bad grade on a test, miss your mom, and continually wonder if you can actually do college. But the hard times will pass.

In a year from now you’ll look back and realize how good you had it. This room has magic if you let yourself feel it—the girls who came before you created an indescribable kind of magic that will continue and grow from women like you. I hope you know that everything will be okay and you learn to love the magic of this room.

Yours truly,

The girl who lived in your dorm room last year