The First Year of College

I’m you’re typical girl from a small town where everyone knows everybody, and you can hardly get away with anything. So you can only imagine how excited I was to start school four and a half hours away from my hometown in the fall of 2017.

I graduated high school, lived the summer up with my friends and counted down the days until move-in day to my dorm. I spent my days on Pinterest, looking at decor ideas and texted with my roommate, who I had never met before, and made plans upon plans. Before I knew it... move-in day actually happened. I never knew it would be so hard to say goodbye to the little town I called home, which I couldn’t wait to get out of.

I moved all my stuff in and unpacked everything consisting of my grey, coral, white, and gold-themed room and my roommate and I spent the evening getting to know a little bit about one another as we arranged everything how we wanted it. I had a week to settle in before my classes started and I got used to the college life very quickly.

Once classes started, I realized what people meant by college being their happiest, most stressful years ever. And, I was only in my first semester. In high school, everything came easy to me with academics. I had good grades, never studied, balanced school, sports, work, and a social life. I had to drastically change all that very early on in the semester. I lived out of my planner, color coded everything... I even had to schedule “me” time to keep my sanity. I was so consumed in trying to balance my school work, that I forgot what it was like to be “free.” I was at school, away from home, truly independent, and I was spending all my hours in the library until 5 AM, cramming my brain with knowledge that it eventually began to hurt me more than help me.

I took a step back from everything. I still got my work done, but I stopped being so hard on myself and began to be better for myself. Once I started living the actual college life, I was much better off. But by that time, winter break had arrived, so I had a month to recuperate.

I went home, and the day after going home, my car was totaled. I went from being independent at school, not relying on anybody or telling anybody anything, to relying on everybody and telling everybody everything. It made for a very stressful month home, when I should’ve been relaxing as I had survived my first semester in college.

When I returned back to school, I had a fallout with my roommate, so I got a new room assignment and ended up in a room without a roommate, so I got a whole room to myself, which was incredible. Not only that, but I also knew how to balance everything a little bit better than the first semester. Classes started, I got back on my independent routine, and life was good again.

It was good up until a certain point, however. You know that saying: “when it rains, it pours?" Well, I got a very good taste of that. I had multiple family issues and drama that was really taking a toll on me, then I lost two of the closest friends I had made here at school, all right around the time that my school workload was continuously piling up and didn’t seem to end. Saying that I was stressed is an understatement.

Needless to say, I couldn’t afford to slack off with everything going on. So I picked myself up, and here I am. In my final week of my spring semester classes, with my finals starting next week. And, although you have only heard a bit about my year, every lesson I have learned in my first year I will take on with me for a very long time. And if you don’t soak in any information that I have offered, please take these tips with you when you begin school and when you’re on your own:

• always moisturize your face (trust me)
• have good walking shoes
• get an ENO or hammock for sunny days
• get a cute, pretty planner and actually use it
• take lots of photos
• don’t be afraid to ask for help with your work
• keep your room organized and make your bed everyday (start this good habit now and you will be so much happier)
• keep in touch with family while you’re away
• take advantage of all opportunities (school spirit at games, play intramural or club sports, go to shows on campus, etc.)

Thank you all for reading!!

-Malea