College freshman Hannah Holmes shares her first impressions of college and gives readers advice on how to avoid getting overwhelmed:

Walking onto my college campus for the first time felt surreal. Since my junior year, I’d been wondering, worrying, and waiting for college. But for all the hours of thought I’d put into it, I really had no idea what to expect. I think that was what had me the most freaked out over the last few weeks before college.

Somehow, it wasn’t nearly as hard as I expected. There was no explosion, no earthquake; my life did not drastically alter in an instant. Well, I guess in a way it did, but there was no pain associated with it. By the time my parents left, I was ready for them to, even though I’d been anxious about that moment for a long time. I was through with all of the lasts I’d been going through at home; last time spending a Monday afternoon with this friend, last time taking my dog on a walk with my dad, last time…. fill in the blank. But once I got on campus, the firsts began. First meal in the cafeteria, first night in my dorm, first time meeting this person, first time walking to class… It was exciting, an adventure. I guess I was pleasantly surprised, but maybe it’s hard to be surprised at all when you don’t know what to expect.

I was worried about making friends. I realized after my first few minutes on campus that that was silly. I was in a place surrounded by thousands of people around my age, with a million different interests. We’re all pretty much trapped here together, more or less, with no one but each other for company. There’s always someone to talk to, and who knows if it will be a friendship that lasts through the hour until my next class or through graduation?

I was worried about being homesick. Of course, I am sometimes. I miss my mom’s cooking, I miss being with my family, I miss little bits and pieces of the life I led for eighteen years. However, at the same time, I’m very much enjoying this new stage of my life. I talk to my parents everyday- most of the other freshman I talk to do, too. Everyone’s a little homesick.  Although, my college kept us too busy during orientation to think about it much. It was a whirlwind of meetings, classes, icebreakers, projects, and introductions to the college lifestyle. It got a little old after the first couple of days, but I would definitely encourage anyone to try and get us much out of their Orientation as they can, whatever it’s like. It’s sure to be a fantastic opportunity to meet people (who may be as sick of orientation stuff as you) and figure out how to get involved on campus, which can be a little overwhelming at first. Remember, everyone either is in the same boat as you or has been in the not too distant past (other than your professors, of course).

For me, getting used to college has been mostly about perspective, the good old glass-half-full vs. glass-half-empty mentality. If you focus on all the difficult things that happen, like how you got lost going to your first class, and you can’t work the code on your mailbox, and you have way more reading to do than is physically possible, you’ll probably lose your mind and everything will very quickly start to seem very overwhelming. But if you focus on the good things, like how you got out of that lab early, or chilled with your suitemates for an hour in their room, or how pleasant the long walk to that class is, you start to see that college life is kind of fun, and you can balance work and having a good time and enjoy this unique new time in your life.