College was such a fun point in my life. There was never a dull moment. I made friends for life and memories that I will forever hold close to my heart. In the middle of all the fun I was having, there was that little thing called classes that was the real reason I was there for. My first year was a year of experiment. I had no idea what to expect which might have been a good thing since I didn’t have any crazy expectations. I knew there would be tons of school work and hopefully parties.
My Freshman year was a year of firsts. I had grown up in the same town my whole life and attended school there from Kindergarten through 12th grade. I never had to actively seek out friends or try to make lots of new ones. Since most freshman are in the same boat it wasn’t a difficult task but it was definitely out of my comfort zone putting myself out there. Your freshman year is crucial for making new friends since every one is new at school. Take advantage of this opportunity and make as many friends as you can. Join different groups and explore as much as possible. You never know when you’ll meet with them again, especially after college. 
This is not just for college freshman but for everyone, don’t burn bridges. It seems so easy to say and I hope that everyone would just get it, but they don’t. You’ll find out real fast that the world is SMALL. You will be meeting people all of your life and seven degrees of separation is no joke. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree with everyone or even be their best friend, but you can at least be civil with everyone that you come across. Trust me.
I never realized how sheltered I was until I went to college. I had never been around so many people with different thoughts, ideas, religions, and nationalities. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I know they were probably all very annoyed with me but I would ask questions, learn, read books because I wanted to understand everybody. You can do one of two things when you get to college. You can take advantage of the opportunity and learn as much as possible from not only class but others or you can keep down a narrow path. This is your time to explore and learn, don’t forget to do just that.
College is fun and if you want to be social, it’s going to take some money. You will learn to get by with whatever money you have whether it be $50 or $5000. But it’s best to figure out where you money is coming from. Whether your parents are giving you a certain amount of money each month or you are working. It’s something good to know so you aren’t struggling to find a penny. This is a great time to master your budgeting skills. I remember trying to figure out one night if I should eat dinner or skip dinner and go out to the movies. Can you guess which one I did?
When it comes to taking courses, I remember not having a clue what to take. Choosing between classes was always fun especially because my first year I didn’t know what I wanted to major in. I had an idea but everything interested me. I was able to take some fun religion and art classes but they didn’t pertain to my major. Get to know your academic adviser and consult with them. Tell them your plan, your interests, what you’re thinking and they will be an awesome resource for you. This will save you so much time, money and energy in the long run.
This sounds so minor but you’ll thank me when your computer crashes. Backup everything that you do. You don’t want to be like me on the night before your 25 page paper is due and have your computer crash. Try explaining that to your professor. Guess what, there is no excuse when you can backup your files so simply with any Sandisk product. I know have the habit of backing up every single thing that I do because how could you not with it being so simple?
Capture as many pictures as possible. I didn’t graduate that long ago, but it was during a time that our phone cameras were less than awesome. I have some photos but I deeply regret not taking more. Now days, there is no reason not to take as many pictures as possible because it’s so easy to do so. If you’re like me, you take pictures of anything and everything. I recommend getting a microSD card for your phone so you can capture as many pictures as possible without taking up all the space on your phone. 
Mobile devices help you share stories every day, no matter where you go. Make sure their performance can keep up. SanDisk microSD™ cards give your smartphone or tablet a more responsive camera function and smoother media playback. Whether you want more storage for your phone or a card that makes it easy to shoot high resolution video on the go, you can choose the way you want to add fast, reliable data storage with capacity options from 4GB to 200GB.
One of my absolute favorite talks is from Steve Jobs giving the Commencement Speech at Stanford. I would highly recommend watching it. Even if you’ve seen it before. It’s worth watching again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched/listened to it!
Stay Hungry Stay Foolish.
What other tidbit of advice would you add?
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