I remember before starting my freshman year at BYU I read all different kinds of blogs about what college would be like. A lot of them were about schools that weren't like BYU. They talked about drinking and partying, how to get into the best sororities, and how to live off of coffee and red bull for finals week-- they did have some good advice about studying and other things too. But it didn't seem to apply to me much, especially when I was going to a school that is mostly LDS. You see, BYU is a pretty different experience than most other colleges, there is an honor code that is pretty strict, no sororities or frats, and prayers before class. Not only that, but BYU pushes you to grow both intellectually and spiritually. You have access to so many things and it's amazing! So here are the morals of all the lessons learned and experiences endured:
- Sit down at the beginning of each month and schedule your month out--write when the big assignments are due. This will seriously help you stay on top of what is due, and it helps with procrastination. Then, at the beginning of the week write a checklist of the small things that need to be done each day.
- Get a group text going with your future roommates. It will be annoying at first, but you get to know their personalities a bit before spending the rest of the semester with them. Me and my roommates set up a google doc with the kitchen supplies and other things we were all going to bring, it made it a million times easier and we don't have 6 different can openers.
- Go to Goodwill to get your kitchen supplies. Don't go spend a ton of money on all the fancy stuff. It will just get ruined, believe me, it's not worth it.
- BYU is hard. You have the best of the best competing with each other. You won't have all A's like you did in high school, and if you do come out with all A's kudos to you, you're a genius.
- Be very open to new experiences.
- College becomes a time where you try and become the next Martha Stewart. You try and create new recipes with the little food you do have, some are successes, others are more of a flop. No matter how good it sounds, sardines, brown rice, and peas don't have the best flavor together.
- STAY ON CAMPUS TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Find a building, go sit in there. No matter how disciplined you think you are, there is no way that you are going to be able to focus in your dorm. There is always something to be cleaned, a nap to be taken, or even a roommate to talk to. It is a dangerous trap
- Go to all the sporting events and other such things you can. Even if you don't like sports, the atmosphere is crazy fun and you meet a ton of new people.
- Get a job. This one might sound a bit crazy, but hear me out. You will have a lot more down time than you think you will. You're only going to be in class for maybe 3-4 hours each day. You are going to get bored. If you work on campus you end up meeting a bunch of new people, you expand your friend group. I met some of my greatest friends at work. It gets your mind off school for a bit and you get some extra spending money. Who doesn't like that? One of my roommates felt the first semester out and then got a job second semester. That's a good option too.
- You will become really close with your roommates. It's funny because they almost become second family to you. You'll tell them everything, and they will tell you everything. By the time winter semester ends you won't know what to do with yourself, it'll be hard to say goodbye.
- Make an effort to go to the temple at least once every two weeks. Blessings will come because of your unselfish service. The temple is literally walking distance from you, and no matter how packed your schedule may seem there is always time to go.
- Prepare for a lot of tears. Homesickness is real, and it will hit when you least expect it. You'l be stressed about something and then you'll just want a hug from mom or dad, and then the water works always start there. Just know that it will hit.
- You will call your mom everyday, sometimes twice, sometimes more. I love my mom, but don't forget about your dad too. He loves you just as much, call him. Call your grandma, call your aunt, seriously. It's way fun and they always want to hear what's going on in your life.
- Storage bins, storage bins, storage bins. These things are amazing. I got 3 sets of drawers (two for my room and one for the bathroom) and even had 2 really big bins for shoes. There is a lot of room under your bed to store things, and there is even more room in the closets.
- Make a grocery list before going to the grocery store. This is VITAL. I tried to cook really fancy meals my first semester and ended up dropping like $300 a month on food. Yeah, not good. I finally decided that those fancy meals would have to wait until I had an actual family to cook for. Second semester I was able to do $150 a month and still live. I would get things like frozen chicken from Costco, rice, chicken nuggets, cereal (LOTS OF CEREAL), and other quick things like that. I also ate a lot of fruits and veggies, I would get those every two weeks.
- Have fun. Don't get me wrong, it's totally awesome to hang with the roomies every Friday and Saturday night, but you need to get out more.
- You will learn a lot about yourself. You don't have your parents there to tell you what to do and when to do it. You'll find that your room might get messy, and that you are late to church. Decide before you go to college what kind of person you want to make yourself. You are setting habits that will be with you for a long time.
- Our room did Sunday dinners. This was pretty much the only time we all sat together and ate. We had a rotation going. We had a blast with it, we had people from all over the country and got to try some of their favorite meals. Invite friends over and play games afterwards. Those were some of the best nights.
- EXERCISE. It helps with the stress and it helps keep you in shape. The freshman 15 is real, for those of us with not so fast metabolisms...
- Get on your knees every night and every morning and pray. I learned to pray for my roommates. Look for struggles they might be going through or if they might have a test or a date. You'll learn to love them even more. Not only that, but make scripture study important. It will slip away if you don't make a conscious effort to keep it up.
- You will learn more about Charity. This is so real. This will probably also prepare you do be a mom someday. You will probably hear every college student talk about the dishes situation. Here is the best advice I can give you on that: "just do it". The sink will be piled high and the stove will be covered in some nasty tomato sauce from the night before, there will be crumbs all over the counter and plates left on the table. You have two choices, be angry or have charity. Brin and I had a running joke, every time we would clean the kitchen we would say, "Charity is the pure love of Christ." It is so true. As you find ways to serve your roommates, and that might be doing the dishes for the 4th time that week, you will grow to love them.
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