5 Life Lessons I Learned From My First Year in College

I've been told time and time again that college was fun, and that they're an even better four years than high school. Now that I've finished my first year at college, all I can really say is...

This isn't just stress - this is... ADVANCED stress.

But don't get me wrong, though - college is hella fun. And life-changing. How so, you might be asking.

Well, I've managed to compile a small list of life lessons I've picked up from my first year in college.

The first is this:

Money is important

Once you get to college in the Philippines, nearly everything you do will end up revolving around one question: can you afford it?

The sad truth is that near everything in college (and around it) revolves around money. Getting to and from home, what you wanna eat, hell, even printing your homework will get you to rethink how you're gonna manage your budget in any given day.

Above: miscellaneous expenses.

This is also one way college prepares us for the real world: money is important and, if you don't have it, you're screwed.

There are advantages to this, however. One such advantage is that this teaches us where to eat. Since everything in college is expensive, it's important to know where you can get yourself a nice meal for a good price.

And, if you're the kind of guy who makes it a point to spend very sparingly (after learning the hard way that being broke isn't good), this can also serve as an opportunity to practice being able to reward yourself at the end of the week.

You know... for surviving.

It's never a good idea to overspend, so it's best to start kicking the habit (assuming you have it) the first thing you get because, once you get to college, there'll be hell to pay if you don't have enough money to get home at the end of the day.

Time-management is the best skill you can learn

When you're in college, there is an absolute guarantee that you are gonna cram the living sh*t out of an assignment sooner or later. This creates massive disturbances in your sleeping schedule. And sleep is something you'll need a LOT of when it comes to these kinds of environments.

Time management is one of the most important skills you'll need to develop upon entering college. It's a good idea to create your own personal schedules for waking up, getting dressed, leaving the house, and even taking naps. But, perhaps most importantly, you'll need to create schedules for how the hell you're gonna handle your bloody assignments.

You probably might've noticed by now that Spongebob is the ideal role model for any college student.

Time management doesn't just mean organizing which assignment you're gonna do first and which test you're gonna study for last - it means you have to figure out a way to make sure a 25-page paper is finished before the deadline a week later.

And there's also the matter of the orgs (short for organizations, you sick pervert) you join. You see, unlike high school or grade school where you have a set day for meeting with your clubs, in college, all the clubs meet at their own set times, and not just on a single day dedicated to meeting them.

Y'all are too damn young to be going to clubs!

You're also gonna have to learn how to balance your time between doing your homework, meeting with your clubs, and hanging out with your mates.

It's best to start practicing time management once you get to college. That way, the workplace will be a lot less stressful.

Learn to accept

Once you get to college, you're gonna come across people from all walks of life, and there is one thing it does not pay to be:

An asshole.

And there are many different ways to be an a**hole. For example, you can be a racist and hate every white guy you see because all white people are Americans who think they're better than you (not true), or you can be a homophobe because, you know, gays are gross (not true either).

While it's "okay" to be an a**hole in high school (because, you know, teen angst and all that sh*t), it's SEVERELY looked down upon in college. There are LOADS of people in college, and you'll definitely be encountering several foreigners, gays, etc., and it's best to treat each and every one of them with the proper respect entitled to every human being, even if they disagree with your point of view.

And that includes not treating white people like either A) gods or B) elitist scum whose parents pay for everything.

It was in college that I learned that people will judge you based on the language you speak (you can thank Mo Twister for perpetuating that) and, before I knew it, I had the word coño floating above my head.

Head's up - it means "vagina".

While people use the word coño in a very light-hearted fashion, to many people (such as my family members, a lot of whom are Hispanic in descent), it's quite offensive.

It's not nice to be labeled based on the color of your skin (yes, that's happened to me) or the language you speak (that's also happened).

Although racism, sexism and homophobia do exist in college, it's important to be the more mature person and just respect those people, even if they are a**holes.

But just remember: that doesn't mean YOU have to be an a**hole, too.

Going on adventures is healthy

I'm going on an adventure!

Believe it or not, going on adventures can be both very fun and character building. They give us memories and life experience.

And also a very liberating sense of freedom.

I remember the time I went to the National Museum with my mates. We all stayed at a hotel, got stranded on an island in the middle of España (otherwise known as hell), and got a thorough bath in street water.

You know - the one rats swim in.

Thankfully, none of us got cholera or any vicious disease. What we did gain instead were a bunch of laughs and several incredible memories we still love to relive today.

And the reason it's character building is because I managed to do so many things WITHOUT the help of my parents. And, for once, it was great. It sort of feels like levelling up in an RPG and gaining buttloads of experience and skill points. You feel stronger and more responsible in the end.

Not to mention ready for another one of those challenges life throws at you.

Get involved

What's college without being a part of something, right? College is filled with student organizations that should appeal to your interests. You like debating? Sign up for the debating club! You like football? Sign up for training! You like math? Wait... you like math?

And these orgs are valuable opportunities for even more life experience and adventure - kinda like joining a guild in an RPG. They're also gateways to meeting loads of new people and making new memories.

And that, kids, is how I met your mother.

But what's most important about getting involved with student organizations is the life experience and enhanced skills you gain from them. They look nice on your resumé and, the more you're involved, the easier it would be (presumably) to get a job in your field of interest.

College is almost 50% fun and 50% stress, and it's best to learn how to maximize fun and to cope with stress. I can now say that I have better time management skills, and that I'm hardly ever late to class now that I've a fixed schedule at home. I can say that I've definitely learned to save, even if I'm surrounded by quite frankly everything I would be interested in buying.

But most of all, I can say that, over the past ten-or-so months, I've matured a lot more than since I left high school - and that I am a better person.

PHOTO CREDITS:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6MxNvMzHpf8_Ad5LhVSIbHZeoBsT07Gy2mKJsd1W0ice1QNsZ5Fwi8WoIZvnC92Dvyv-tnQVy_6WtpCBtzLgM5payx19x4TZ-xOCfxwzYNg6gYqj72nhnYNbmL-zXfiMbLd0AoxUogHwM/s1600/Advanced+Darkness.png

http://memecrunch.com/image/5216051aafa96f3ecc000033.png?w=400

http://rrhealthandwellness.thewebsitestore.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/are-you-busy.jpg

http://s3.vidimg02.popscreen.com/original/41/MExBWEpQbHBENGsx_o_spongebob-squarepants---essay-writing-the-scene.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmnuiitbs2Mq30-8QXAg_onbs767JD386aroJUqNwYGTrRF6jY4-lhz44cQkjqx-pJfE-gm8bOmnbiv5jWTTvV5kAyM9xpjdpHts23YuFo1DrlMqQMBm8VGSiMP8LPM17zf9jcs-EXhGc/s1600/substitute+teacher+Key+&+Peele.jpg

http://www.metalinsider.net/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Fred+Durst.jpg

http://www.buzzle.com/images/diagrams/human-body/labeled-female-reproductive-system-diagram.jpg

http://elizabethgracephotographyblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/im-going-on-an-adventure1.jpg

http://www.therpf.com/attachments/f9/braveheart-full-sized-bust-bh-002.jpg-34288d1284875242

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44012000/jpg/_44012833_the_street_crudwell.jpg

http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/himym3.jpg