Being a freshman one of the best and worst times of my life as a college student. Don’t get me wrong college is great, you get to finally make your own decision and how you want to spend your free time. You get to make new friends and get to join different clubs where you get to meet a diverse group of individuals come together and make some pretty good memories with that group, but there is a downfall. The biggest thing that freshman college students run into is how to balance school work, social life, work life and being able to make to your 8 a.m. class on time with 15 seconds to spare. I don’t know how many times I felt so overwhelmed because I was trying to do too much stuff without giving time to myself or I would do less and feel quite left out because I had to study for a test the next day. It’s a big balancing act when you start your freshman year, but it doesn’t have to be stressful or a mental break. So, I want to give you advice that really helped get through my fun but stressful first year of college.
Take chances. When going to college, you get an overwhelming sensation that you must do everything and that’s great, but for some we don’t really take chances in life to really get to know the community at your college. So don’t go and hide in your dorm room and expect something to happen. Go out and enjoy the community life at college because you never know who you will meet, and you don’t know what adventures could be out there. You could take a chance on joining a sorority at college and meet the greatest friends on the planet. I know sororities and fraternities get a reputation, but if you like doing community services and really getting involved on campus then, joining a sorority or fraternity could be your thing. Another thing you could take a chance on is going to one of the many events that college has provided for you to enjoy. You could go to a movie night, or the cultural dance night or maybe even just hanging out in the student center and see who you could meet. There’s so many opportunities at college to take chances on something fun and amazing all it takes is going out there and seeing what works for you.
Make mistakes. Since beginning of time we humans have making mistakes after mistakes, but we’ve never known how to deal with those mistakes. Well since you choose to go into higher education you will being seeing yourself make a lot of mistakes. For example, you may have decided to 16 credits your first semester and then you realize that its too many classes to handle and you start panicking because you didn’t realize that it would require you to study for about six hours each night. Now don’t worry sometimes the best thing to do for your first week is to see which classes are good for you and which need to go. It’s best to get the bad classes out the first week because you can get a refund back from dropping the class early. So, don’t freak out if you can only take 12 credits the first semester, because it is better to get you feet wet first before you decide to dive into the pool of college classes. Another mistake I experienced with college is not studying enough for my classes. Now don’t worry sometimes you will forget to study or forget to finish that discussion board online or totally forgot you had to present that day. It’s okay to forget things and make a mistake because you have a bounty of many times to get it right. So don’t be hard on yourself if you make a mistake, because in the end you can learn the greatest life lessons when you learn from that mistake and not do it twice. Mistakes can either make or break you at college and I can say that mistake can shape into the person you are today.
Get messy. My last advice I want to leave you for this opinion page is something I’ve been learning to do since I started college and that is getting messy. To me, that was getting out of my comfort zone and trying new things. Things that might mean getting your hands dirty and getting out in the community to do so. That doesn’t mean you do something in decent, but it means going out and maybe going to a shelter by doing a soup dinner or going to build houses for habitat for humanity. It can also mean that you can get messy by joining a group that supports your type of belief and going out there spreading the good news about your group. Getting messy doesn’t always have to be physically getting your hands dirty, but maybe standing up for what you believe in, or finding out what you truly believe in. Getting messy may mean going on a week-long trip with your professor to South America sending out care packages to orphans. Whatever gets you out in the physical world to get messy and make a different is something I wish I did more when I first started college. Getting messy means getting out of your comfort zone and trying something new and let me tell you getting messy for what you believe in can be invigorating and amazing. So don’t be afraid to get messy because you can learn a lot about yourself and the strengths that are inside of you.
So, my last advice to you before I finish this opinion page is find out what you believe, what makes you excited and find people who enjoy what you are into too. These friends can raise you up and lead you to the right path to success when you go to college. So, take chances, make mistake and get messy because you never know what is inside you if you keep to yourself and not express who you are. College can be the best learning experience of your life so jump on in and learn to get out of comfort zone. I promise you it can be amazing going to college, you just got to try.
