If you want to enjoy being a freshman without having to suffer its side effects, this article is for you.
The freshman phase is an unavoidable part of everyone’s University Experience. While it’s true that it’s just a phase, if you go in unprepared, it just might take you a while before you figure out how to break loose. Good news is, freshman year doesn’t have to be something that you want to avoid. Here are 5 tips to turn your freshman year into a happy memory:
- Program your brain beforehand. It’s all about how high you set the bar; don’t let your excitement for your new life keep you from setting realistic expectations. Prepare yourself mentally for the responsibilities you’re about to take on, and be prepared to feel overwhelmed. It’s also important to remember that everyone’s college experience is unique, so don’t expect it to be what your older sibling told you it would be like, or you might end up being disappointed that dorm life isn’t really about slumber parties.
- Go prepared. There’s nothing worse than not finding your classes except for finding them after they’ve already started. Make sure to scope out the area one day earlier to avoid looking lost. And don’t be afraid to walk around by yourself; nothing screams freshman louder than travelling in herds.
- Resist the urge to binge. Congratulations! Now you’ve made it past the preparation stage! By now you must have been in college for a couple of weeks, and you must think that all the mental preparation in the world couldn’t have prepared you for this. It’s nothing like good ol’ high school, is it? And what better cure is there for a depression than binging? You can binge on chocolate, Turkish series or even sleep, right? Wrong. Fight the urge to slip into the world of binging, it’s a different kind of rabbit hole altogether.
- Get involved. College is a new environment and it’s normal to feel out of place at first; so it only makes sense that you try to make it feel as much like home as possible. Stay on campus as much as you can,put yourself out there! Sign up for clubs to explore new interests and gain practical experience. You can’t get to know your college by sitting in your comfort zone. And remember that you can’t love something before you know it.
- Don’t be THAT freshman! Finally, the less you act like a freshman, the less you’ll feel like one. Don’t walk around in groups of 30. Do not go around boasting about your high school glories. The beauty of college is in the new start it offers; try to be successful where you are instead. Be yourself and don’t try to impress anyone. College is the time to be the person you’ve always wanted to be, not the person you’re not. It’s also useful to note that it’s completely fine to “dress down” in college; no one’s expecting you to look like Victoria Beckham at 8 a.m. anyway.
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