December of my junior year, I was sitting in my friend Jen's apartment drinking Sangria. I was also about to fail my organic chemistry class, which I was taking for the third time after dropping it twice.
I was complaining about how I just didn't care at all about organic chemistry anymore-how I couldn't force myself to want to do the work.
And then, Jen said something that would change the remainder of my time at UF: "I've learned that it's not worth doing anything that doesn't make you happy in the short or the long term.
That's one of the many things I wish I had known as a freshman. By the end of your four years of college, you'll probably have too many of those lightbulb moments to count; moments where your all-consuming problem is suddenly solved, despite the solution being so common-sense that it was probably an episode on Sesame Street.
My college experience hasn't taught me everything, but I have learned a few things along the way that would have made it easier if I had known them when I moved into the dorms my first year here.
Just a few:
-High school never ends. I'm sorry to be the one to break this to you. I know that for the past few months you've been saying things like, "I'm so excited to be done with all this drama," and "Finally, people will see beyond stereotypes like geek, jock or bimbo."
Unfortunately, high school was just training for the rest of your life as far as drama and stereotypes go, and college students are as good at judging people as high school kids were. Learn to anticipate the gossip and judgment, and avoid it accordingly.
-Go to class. No, every class is not necessarily worth your time. But you won't know that until after the first test. Keep in mind, also: time spent in class is time you'll probably make up for in studying if you don't go. Sure, reruns of "Scrubs" might seem more important than your rocks for jocks lecture, but you absorb more by just sitting in class than you think.
And that movie on volcanoes is pretty awesome.
-Call your parents. Even if you're on full scholarship, they've given 18 years of their lives to get you to this point. They've earned the right to hear about your life.
Plus, if they're anything like my parents, the University Police Department will probably be on red alert if you haven't answered your phone in a couple weeks.
-Stop worrying. No one really cares if you look at a campus map-we can tell you're freshmen without it. Girls, you will find some way to shave your legs in the dorm showers. You have four years to screw up your life. Chances are you won't make every mistake your first year. Just calm down.
-Do things that make you happy. It seems so simple, but it took me three years to really believe and apply it. I've known people who have gotten majors in areas they really didn't enjoy because it was what someone else wanted for them: parents, high school teachers or peers.
College is a time to find out what you love, and you might not know what that is right away. Take classes in lots of different areas. You don't have to know what you want to do for the rest of your life at age 18.
And if you wake up one morning and realize the things that always made you happy suddenly aren't anymore, talk to someone about it. Depression is debilitating in the fast-paced university world, and it's easy to miss if it's happening to you.
Learn to like football.
'Nuff said.
Hilary Lehman is a journalism senior and former managing editor / print of the Alligator.
