Mistakes From My First Year of College

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I just recently finished up my first year of college, which means that I am clearly an expert (hah!) on everything and anything related to the subject. All jokes aside, I feel like I am a relatively average girl with abnormally large eyebrows (those always seem to come up…) who might be able to give a little insight the situation at hand. College isn't a cake walk. You have to get a hang of things before it seems to come naturally to you. It's all about trial and error and learning from the mistakes that you have to let yourself make.

Plenty of mistakes were made by myself during my first year, and to save someone else the troubles that I went through would just make my day.

1. Bringing way too much home for winter break. I was home for a little over four weeks and took nearly half of my closet and practically emptied my drawers. I, for some strange reason, thought I would be wearing all of these fabulous outfits when in reality, I wore the same sweatshirt four days in a row because I didn't leave the house. Plus, I ended up shopping and had even more to take back to school. Rule for next year: pack one suitcase and a tote bag if needed.
2. Buying text books for online codes. Some of my textbooks were purchased because I didn't know that I only needed the online code in the back to get to the website we used for homework. Little did I know that by buying only the code, I could get access to the online homework and the textbook online. Paper free, cheaper, and overall just easier to get. Rule for next year: check to see if I can just purchase the online code rather than the entire text book.
3. Skipping meals. Somedays I was just too lazy or too afraid to eat alone that I would just skip meals entirely. This isn't too awful if it was on rare occasions, but I found myself doing this a few times a week and would end up binge eating junk food or ice cream later to make up for it. Rule for next year: Try to eat regularly or keep healthier options stocked in my dorm so I don't have to resort to Ben and Jerry for guidance.
4. Not talking to people on my floor. I never made friends with anyone on my floor, which was a really dumb mistake. Getting to know people on your floor is an easy way to make friends because you know you have at least one thing in common! I lost out on an opportunity to meet some cool people because I was too shy. Rule for next year: Make an effort to at least meet everyone on the floor (there are some people whose names I never learned and never will from freshmen year!)
5. Spending money on unnecessary clothing/beauty purchases. I worked enough over the summer that, combined with graduation money, I could pay the first installment of my tuition for my first semester and have enough money to get me through my first year without having to worry about having a job. Now, I did have a birthday, a couple of weeks of working for my uncle, and a few babysitting gigs, but for the most part, I relied on money that I made from my summer job to purchase food and necessities during the school year. Instead, I used my debit card very liberally when it came to clothing (#AmericanApparel in Coventry), magazines, and beauty products that I don't deem necessities (i.e. foundation, concealer, setting powder, and face wash). Rule for next year: Remember that food is more important than that new t-shirt. If I want spending money, I'm going to need to work for it.

Everybody makes mistakes…I mean, Hannah Montana said it so it must be true. My first year wasn't perfect and my next three years won't be either. I'm sure I'll still be making silly mistakes through college, but being able to recognize my mistakes is a pretty big step in getting past them.