I would always read everyone’s senior columns and wonder what I would write about when the time came. Everyone would give life advice, but I will attempt to be a little different than the normal.
To freshmen, if you do not make your best friends right away, do not be discouraged. We come to college to get an education and learn to expand our horizons and the way that we think, but do we actually stretch ourselves to really figure out who we are? I believe the best way that I found to do this is looking to the right or left of me and saying “Hello. What’s your name and where are you from?” You never know who is sitting beside you, and I have found that you have something in common with everyone.
Go to organization meetings that you would never think you would fit into. I did this my freshman year by joining SGA and I have enjoyed every minute of it. Shoot for positions that you never think you would get, but prepare for them as if you are training for the Olympics.
Attend events that are out of your comfort zone. If you are not Greek, go to a fraternity party. If you usually go to dinner on Friday nights, try substituting that with getting takeout and going to a Tide Talk to hear some brilliant people on campus share their ideas. If we all took the step to get out of our comfort zones and learn more about ourselves, I promise that we would enjoy our college career ten times more than if we were to solely hang out with the people we live with or went to high school with.
Make friends who challenge your thinking. If someone thinks the exact the same way that you do, are you really expanding your horizons and making the most of college? We come to college to learn, and learning does not stop when you walk outside of the classroom door. A mentor always told me to “Remember where you were when…”
I always wondered what he meant until it hit me. He meant remember how you felt when you first walked onto campus or into a room when you did not know anyone. What did you want someone to do? Go to those moments and do what you would have wanted someone else to do for you.
I encourage people to study abroad, but do not forget the first day when you were in a new country where everyone spoke a language that was not your native tongue. Keep this in mind when you are sitting next to foreign exchange students who might want someone to talk to them too. Talk to the student who sits alone in class, wave at the girl who has headphones in across the quad, sit with a random stranger at the Ferg. Do it! You will not regret the decision.
Intern in a state besides Alabama or your home state because you get to experience a different culture, cuisine and activities, on top of meeting more people that could potentially be life-long friends.
No matter what situation in life you are in, there is a lesson to be learned. Now looking back and knowing that I graduate in less than two weeks, I encourage you, do not regret your time or wish you had done something differently because you still have time right now to make your aspirations a reality. You have four years, make the most of it and meet as many people as you can!
Kelsi Long is a senior majoring in accounting and Spanish.
