It’s a fact. Growing up is hard to do.

I still remember the mix of feelings that possessed me as my parents unpacked me and left me, alone, to start my freshman year of college.

I cried for hours after my parents left, awash in feelings of abandonment, confusion, sadness, a complete lack of preparation and general hysteria.

But different freshmen handle the high school-college transition different ways.

One thing is for sure – it’s a huge transition.

In most cases, you’re leaving home, and in many cases, it’s for the first time. Even now, in my senior year, I still have a slight problem returning to school after I’ve been in my comfortable home, and taken care of by my parents all summer.

Being away from home is challenging yet fun at the same time.

It’s tough because all at once you’re faced with responsibilities your parents used to take care of.

Despite how we moan and groan about our parents’ over-involvement in our lives, let’s admit it – we don’t mind them paying our bills and taking care of other ‘real life’ drudgery.

Yet college is also fun, because all of a sudden you can do whatever you want, when you want to do it. No parents to monitor your every move, what time you come in, who you’re dating, what kind of trash you’re eating and drinking, and whether or not you’re doing your homework or going to class.

You will find during your freshman year that cell phones really aren’t as great as you thought they were – they’ll be ringing off the hook with parental ‘check-up’ calls, and eventually you might feel compelled to ‘accidentally’ drop your phone in a toilet.

And no, the times I’ve done that weren’t for that same reason, honest.

Every year, I think I’ve tried to cut the apron strings a little more – if not, at least untie them.

This is one of the more difficult things about going away to school, and part of doing this is proving to your parents that they can trust you when you’re out of their presence.

Trust me when I say that I’m the voice of experience here – I’ve done lots of things that still have my parents narrowing their eyes when I say, ‘Really. You can trust me.’ Apparently I flunked the political science course in how to be a great liar.

Many freshmen are under the impression that when they leave for college, they’re automatically adults.

Nuh-uh. College, despite common folklore, is not an instant ticket to adulthood.

Instead, it is the experiences you’ll encounter and the responsibilities you will be given that will create your transition to adulthood, or at least the beginning of it.

It takes maturity and responsibility to deal with many of the challenges college throws your way.

Look at all of the great things about college – you’ll see amazing offers of free T-shirts if you just sign up for a credit card!

Yet again, I speak from experience – a free T-shirt isn’t worth the grief that comes along with the disastrous combination of the ‘freedom’ a credit card brings, coupled with drastic immaturity.

Along the same lines, it is important to maintain moderation in the areas where college students are famous for ‘overdoing it.’

The freshman fifteen can be avoided with moderate eating habits and routine exercising. Likewise, you can live through your freshman year if you remember that you don’t have to binge drink just because you’re in college. Besides, you’re not even 21!

It also takes maturity to deal with the phenomenon known as roommates.

People are inherently annoying. Put a few of these inherently annoying people from different places and backgrounds together, expect them to live together without having ever met each other before, and you’re bound to have more than a few exciting moments.

It takes patience, intuition, and understanding to live with someone you barely know, and during the rough times just think of it this way – you’ll be a better person in the long run.

The most important thing to remember when you’re a freshman is to stay true to yourself. It’s really easy to forget who you really are when you’re out of the surroundings that you’ve always been in. Not to mention, there will be so many new people around you from so many places that you’ll start thinking, ‘I could be just like them!’

Stop right there. We’ve all tried the ‘be someone else’ routine at one point or another, and it’s especially important that you know yourself, especially when it will be so tempting and so possible to take so many different paths in life.

Now go forth, young one, conquer the world, and remember – in moderation. Good luck!

Send comments to Danielle at [email protected]