I really want to start this off by saying, I hope everyone of my readers are as far behind in this adult thing as me. I still haven’t bought my textbooks and classes have already started, but it is okay. College has started and I hope everyone is ready because I know I am not even close.

The fall semester is my favorite time of the school year because this is when the college gets the most students. All the recently graduated high school students start to flood onto campus, and it is refreshing to see people who are excited for 8am lectures. It can be confusing though because the class of 2022 has recently been thrown out of the nest, and can learn a lot about college.

When I got to college, I had a headstart compared to some. I lived in Clarksville my entire life and followed my brother when attending Austin Peay. However, for many of you guys, this is a new life, a new start and you don’t really know where to begin. That is okay and you will grow as the semester goes on.

Here is my guide to not only surviving but enjoying your time at Austin Peay.

When you walk onto a college campus, you have this idea of who you are supposed to be because of what you see in the media. This can be from social media, movies, or what you have read. Growing up, you may have lived on your phone, looking on social media, watching people fall in love, get married, move into nice apartments, get 4.0 GPA’s, play a sport or join a club and it all started at college. My number one tip in enjoying your time here is try not to mimic someone else’s experience We all have our own time tables. If you spend the next four years of your life trying to be your mom or your best friend, you will never find yourself. Although you are legally an adult, you have a lifetime to live out successful lives. Take these four years to learn how you define success.

No matter where you come from, the hardest thing to remember is why you left your family and friends. Let APSU be a fresh start for you, this is the time in your life where you truly are an adult and you get to form meaningful relationships. When you are here you need to be able to let go of your home for a little bit and fully dive into the community you choose. Do not think of APSU as somewhere you live for the time being. Think of it as somewhere you live because you decided to be here. You can call your dorm your “home away from home” because the important part of that sentence is home.

My next tip is to make it a home to you and honestly that is so open ended. When you move cross country, you might feel overwhelmed and separated, but you need to allow yourself to make that small room your home. To help with that, add colorful bedding, rugs, posters, family pictures and make it a place you feel comfortable in.

When you get here it will be easy to forget why you came, to feel like you made a mistake, but trust me it took a village to raise you into the person you are and you can find a village everywhere this one is called APSU and we welcome you to the community.