Friends

You will meet a lot of people and make a lot of new friends while you are at University. A lot of this will happen in first year while you are in residence.

Friends are good. They make long days less boring, they make studying for exams more interesting, and basically they just make your university experience more memorable. Friends can also be live savers, in terms of helping you get through problems you are having at home or school. They can be the person you go talk to.

Don’t be afraid to meet people you have never met before who come from different backgrounds. You can learn a lot from them. You may also clash with people you meet. Be willing to be open minded. You may end up having very different friends than you did in high school. I tend to be more of a conservative person and the people I ended up spending most of my time with were not. We were able to get past that. I didn't do anything I wasn't comfortable with, and they accepted that and didn't try to do everything I did.

Friends can also be quite detrimental. Some of them are more interested in partying and having a good time as opposed to going to classes and performing well. They tempt you. You need to be strong and be able to say “no” to things that you do not want to do and make sure that you look out for yourself. Hanging out with your friends may be more exciting than going to that psychology lecture, but during that lecture, the Prof might be reviewing what will be on the exam.

Don’t forget the friends you had back at home either. Call them and see what’s up. They might be able to help you out in some way, but in any case you've been close to them in the past, and it's worthwhile to maintain that closeness.

Sometimes what brings two people together is what they have in common. I was underage for nearly all my first year in university. Another person who I lived with who was also underage at the time. We bonded instantly because of that common ground. While the others were out, we would go do other things together. Unfortunately she became of age several months before I did, and she ended up ditching me. That happens sometimes, but the times we did have together were great.

I grew up in a small town and went to a small school. Up until this year, most of the people I would meet during the day would be people I'd known for most of my life. Now, when I went away, I was forced to make new friends. I was nervous about it, but I did it. In comparable circumstances now, I wouldn't be nervous at all; I have my new friends to thank for that.