1. It’s okay not to know what you want to major in.
At least it is for your first year. Take some different classes that could satisfy different basic requirements to see what you like. I declared my major as soon as I got to ECU because I thought I had to, and I ended up changing it three times because I hadn’t taken any classes that had any variety to them, and I really wish I had because then I would have known how awesome English classes really are.
2. Don’t be scared to talk to new people.
As a freshman, it’s so easy to make friends because everyone is in the same boat as you are. Nobody knows anybody else either. Sometimes, making a new friend is as simple as just hanging out in your dorm lobby and talking to people who are sitting around you. It’s okay to say, “hi,” to people you barely know. The way I made a lot of the friends I have now was sitting in the lobby and playing the piano, everyone was so fascinated and wanted me to teach them! Sometimes, it’s as simple as being yourself.
3. Professors aren’t usually as scary as high school teachers would have you think.
After I sat through my first college class, I realized that professors just want you to succeed. I mean, they aren’t as inclined to help you as high school teachers are, but they’re not as scary as gremlins or anything. Most of the time, if you’re polite and nice about everything, they will actually work with you if you have a problem, but that’s not to say that some won’t. Every professor is different, so you just have to find the right routine that works for you.
4. It’s okay not to be best friends with your first college room mate.
Sometimes, it’s great not to be best friends with your first college room mate, because it’s hard to live in that tiny room with the same person all the time. That way, if you aren’t best friends, you’re not spending all the time outside of the room together in addition to living together. Sometimes you just won’t mesh with people, and that’s okay. We can’t all have a room mate relationship like Ted and Marshall.
5. There will be elementary school tours and there will be a lot of them.
Which is totally fine, I just wish I had known this because when you’re minding your own business walking to class and some 6 year-old screams, “PURPLE!” in your face, you tend to get startled, or at least I did the first couple of times.
6. Football is so much more awesome in the Boneyard.
You might think that football is awesome already, but let me tell you that the $50 you spend on a Student Pirate Club pass is some of the best money you can spend (if you’re into football and t-shirts). I think it’s the energy from sitting around a bunch of other people who share the same spirit for the same thing as you do. Football is just so much better from the Boneyard.
7. 4 years is not a long time.
I mean, think about it. Did high school feel like it flew by? College goes even faster. The semester will be over in what feels like a blink of the eye and it won’t always be easy. Make the most of the time you have and everything will work it’s self out. You’ll make friends, you’ll lose friends, you’ll figure out your major, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and eventually you will have to start adulting, but until then, make the most of your freshman year, because it really doesn’t last as long as you think it does.