by Kaisa Aquino

01. Know where you are right now. Leave the excess and unnecessary baggage behind. High school is full of dramas. No denying that. But you’re in college now! Let go of all the hurt, lies, embarrasment and secrets to give space to new adventures. I think this is the first crucial step into realizing that you’re not in high school anymore. Honestly, the realization that you’re in college already won’t come easily. You wake up one day and you open your closet expecting to see your uniform when you see a brand new one that feels strange and awkward to you or maybe you see a pile of civilian clothes you are now to wear every single day. And then you sit inside a room and wait for this teacher you’ve always loved and a stranger enters with that stern look or a half-shaved head. You will fall in line in this odd cafeteria and all the food you’ve grown familiar with is replaced with foreign looking dishes. You wait for your classmate to throw the punchline wrong and all you get is silence, because they’re not here anymore. All it boils down to, is knowing what memories from high school you can keep and those which you’d do better without. It’s all in your hands, or should I say, in your head.

02. There will be a lot of distractions. I wasn’t prepared for this myself. Be it your cute seatmate or your gorgeous looking professor or an invite to a party during a school night, you must prepare yourself for this, for knowing when it’s safe to daydream or when you’d rather stay home and pull an all-nighter. It will be tricky. Because you can’t always say no. At times, you have to give yourself something to look forward to - like a movie after you finish a paper or a huge scrumptious and fatty meal after a dreaded exam. However, keep in mind that these bumps in the way, though they bring excitement to the ride, may steer you the wrong path or worse, punch a hole in your tires, forcing you to stop the journey altogether.

03. Be familiar with your new environment. Get lost. That is, before the first day itself. I had an awful experience during my first day. I arrived early and I waited outside this room for so long that I was worried already because no one was coming around so I shyly asked some upper class men (you will know who they are right away) and told me it was the wrong room. I hurriedly followed their directions and entered a classroom full of people with the professor already in front. Lesson learned - know where your classrooms are ahead of time to save yourself time and, well, embarrassment.

04. It’s okay to be alone. But not all the time. College is a stage in life where you learn to be independent. Living away from your family or not, it will be a strange new place with strange new people. You won’t be seeing the faces you see every school day in the hallway or the teachers you’ve grown familiar with. You might have some friends who share the same schedule with you but technically, you are alone. And it’s okay. Learning how to treasure your alone time with yourself is the first step to being comfortable with just yourself as company. Honestly, it’s even better when you’re alone. You can be yourself without any bother and you can do whatever you want. But not all the time. There will be times when you just need someone by your side. And that’s precisely why making friends is mandatory. Talk to your seatmate, or to that girl in front of you in line, or to your roommates. Sometimes, you need to have someone to help you get through a rough chapter, someone to ask whether you got the instructions right and just someone who would share a cup of coffee with you while talking about the roller coaster ride you’ve gotten into and how you miss high school and your big bed at home.

05. Equating yourself to a number is insulting. Expectations are high, of course. You want to have the best grade possible - you work the hardest, you sleep less, you do it all. But it doesn’t always happen like that, not that it don’t, it can happen, of course. But you have to prepare yourself to see that you have fallen short. And sometimes, it’s not your fault. You did everything you can and you know your limits, that is, you’ve reached it. And there’s not much you can do. Do not dwell on what didn’t happen, what had fallen short. Remember, you can never go back in time and wish you studied harder or rechecked your paper better or submitted earlier. But you can always change your mind. As my Philosophy teacher would always say, you are more than your achievements, your failures. You are more than your face or your ass, even when people say so. You are worth more than that.