The Truth About Freshman Year of College

Like many other teenagers aspiring to better themselves with a college degree, I was in my Junior year of high school when I started to research where I would spend my years after I graduated. The process was stressful and exciting as I looked at tuition rates, locations, majors, size, and student life at different institutions. It all went by so quickly. I had decided on attending Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and before I knew it I was weeks away from move-in day. I had all kinds of mixed emotions about starting an entirely new chapter of my life. I was excited to finally be on my own getting to go to school for something that I care about, I was nostalgic leaving the life that I've known for years, but most of all I was anxious and scared out of my mind. Moving to a new place on your own is one of the bravest things a person can do, especially at 18 years old when you barely feel like an adult. But as nervous as I was, I kept telling myself that everyone goes through this and that everyone feels this way. I assumed that I would be okay when I got there, and everything would fall into place.

College is portrayed as the best time of your life; you're expected to have an amazing time every single day. There are no rules or regulations from parents anymore and you can do everything on your own agenda. Because of the way it is talked about, most of us expect for that to happen as soon as we arrive. It's going to be amazing right!? You meet all these friends, join all these clubs, go to all these parties, and never want to go back home. Don't get me wrong, college can and most likely will be the most fun you've ever had in your life, but it takes more time than you'd think.

For those who join sororities and fraternities or who go to an institution with friends you already have, the transition may be smoother for you. But for the majority of students, finding your place can be hard. When I started my freshman year, I hung out with my roommate for the first couple weeks before I met any other friends and after that, I only met about three other friends that I talked to on a daily basis. It isn't like I was antisocial or didn't interact, it was just hard to get to know people. I would talk to people in my classes and in my dorm and I tried to be friendly, but it was hard to create new friendships.

I ended up with a lot of acquaintances whom I knew the names of and said hi to in passing but did not necessarily consider them my friends. The fact of the matter is I didn't know where to start when it came to meeting people I could get along with. When I had officially become acquaintances and nothing more to the people in my dorm and in my classes, I thought that clubs would be a good way to meet people with similar interests. I quickly realized most of the clubs were made up of upperclassmen that had been friends for years and it just didn't feel right for me. I really did not know how to find "my people."

Besides not having my clique formed yet, for most of the first semester, I spent my time going to classes, doing homework, or just sitting alone in my room. Because freshman year is mostly Gen Ed courses, the work can be difficult and generally not in your major. It becomes stressful and exhausting pretty quickly and you may not enjoy it as much as you expected to. I spent more time than I would like to admit crying in the library over history papers than actually embracing and being excited about the new things I was learning in my chosen major. I was never one to love my life at home and I wanted to get away from my family as quickly as possible, but even I found myself homesick within the first month of school.

What no one wants to admit about college is that it can be very lonely at the start. You may not know how to find your future lifelong friends right away. In this day and age of the internet and social media being the main source of communication, we all want to show off to the world all the positives in our lives. I scroll through Facebook, Instagram, and see Snapchat stories of all of my high school friends seemingly having the time of their lives in their new homes. This can be discouraging for anyone, but I promise you, no one's life is as exciting and full as portrayed on their social media accounts. All of the hype I constantly saw how fantastic everyone's new life seemed was fake. This is even more deceiving for those who are not in college yet. There is an image built up in your head that when you get to college, everything will be amazing, and you can build that same seemingly exciting, full social media image for everyone else. This often leads to disappointment at the beginning as you try and adjust to your new life, while simultaneously trying to live up to the expectation that every aspect of starting college is perfect when it is not like that at all.

Hopefully, I didn't completely ruin your desire to extend your education because it does get better. Despite my rough start I eventually did find a group of friends who I have a blast with every single day at school. I found my ways to get involved on campus with volunteer programs, a campus job, clubs relating to my major, and I learned how to get through the general education classes that everyone has to take.

My advice to a person who is approaching this new chapter of life is to not be discouraged if college, at first, is not what you expected it to be; for most people, it won't be. It can be difficult, lonely, and stressful but it does get better. It may take some time to find your place and figure out who you are, but college is the perfect place to do that and you have plenty of time. You WILL find your "people." You WILL figure out what you want out of your college experience. Once you do, you will love every minute of it.