College: First Impressions

I guess the only place I can really start is explaining my first college experience.

There are only three words I can use to describe my Freshman year.

Stressful, Confusing, Amazing.

Stressful?
Most of the times I wouldn't even have to ask. But the comment I would always receive after I told someone that it was my first year was:

"Freshman year is always the hardest..."

I am not specifically sure if this statement is entirely truthful, because I have not made it to my Sophomore year just yet, but there is some truth behind it.
Why is it so stressful?
1. You are alone
Ultimately, you are alone. Yes you have friends, maybe if you're lucky, a brother or sister or two. But most likely, you are alone. If you are used to being around your family 24/7, (like I was) then you need to get ready for a change. The amount of responsibility you take can be a little overwhelming at times. Most likely you won't have a shoulder to cry on when things get tough. You can't get help for any projects, because other people have priorities of there own. So you better take the lyrics of the Paramore song to heart, cause its coming for you! And reality hits hard.
2. Organization
I will go over this again in a different post about How to Get Organized In College. For now, I wanted to say that if you are not organized now, CHANGE YOUR WAYS!! The hardest thing for me was to get my life straightened out. Not being organized caused me to have a lot of all-nighters when they were not necessary, which in turn made me sick and a dehydrated zombie! Don't be a sick a dehydrated zombie! Keep yourself organized.

Why is it so Confusing?
1. Honestly, I don't know!
The confusion sort of leads into stress. Both are an unhappy duo and if you feel either way, you need to find help. As in help, I mean a friend, family member or counselor, and I looked for help in all three.
2. Expectations in the Classroom.
Before, in high school, the only expectation I had for my classes was to: sit down, shut up, and do the work! Now my college encourages me to share, create and collaborate. Things that I was not used to doing before. I feel that my high school definitely failed at helping me think more creativity. It was a trait I had to learn on my own. Instead we just went by the books and didn't think any further about any type of subject.  


Why is it so Amazing?
1. Cultures, Cultures, Everywhere!!
Meeting new people from different backgrounds can be an amazing experience. The only regret I have now from my Freshman year was that I didn't push myself enough to meet new people. Of course I did meet new people from time to time, but I didn't push myself to be really genuinely interested in their life and make new relationships. I was surrounded by so many different cultures and so many amazing lives, but the only thing I decided to do was to shut myself out of what I thought was "chaos." I will probably have to continue this rant in another post. But, yeah! Try to absorb all of the culture, instead of shying away from it. And that's all I am going to say on that topic.
2. Friendships
Do I really need to explain that much? Basically, through all the bull-crap, social anxiety, failures, and things you go through during this state of your life; if you are really open, you will have amazing moments and meet wonderful and extremely colorful people in college. The only thing I can say is, make as many friends as you possibly can, because you will never regret it. And always be thankful of constant movie nights with frozen yogurt ^_^

There are a bunch of other ways I can describe college. These are the only three that popped into my head. Otherwise I hoped this helped at least a little bit, I know I was mostly ranting. I will speak more specifically on these and other topics later.

Peace, love and frozen yogurt!!
Janay