College is a very challenging part in our young and impressionable lives. It doesn’t matter if you’re the president of your fraternity or sorority, or if you maintain 12 hours of classes and go straight home everyday. Trying to cram vital and important experiences in four years is unrealistic. Everyone is on their own journey with specific circumstances and financial setbacks, and it is impossible to compare your experience to another person in college. 

Comparison is the thief of joy. There is beauty and solitude in a simple college experience. Whether it takes you all four years to make at least one friend, or within a week of your freshman year, you’ve got ten, you’re responsible for your own enjoyment and extracurriculars in college. This is difficult to come to terms with, especially depending on your family dynamic. 

I’ve learned that being the younger sibling venturing into college for the first time can be both a negative and positive thing. Being younger, in my experience, has paved the way for my excitement to finally be on my own, separate from my siblings and parents. This is where responsibility for yourself comes into account. The time it takes to realize that is a lengthy process, and it really will be okay if it takes a while to get there. 

Getting involved on campus is different for everyone. For some, that could mean joining every club the university has to offer or remaining loyal to one organization until you graduate. Considering that LSU makes you live on campus your freshman year, living with roommates was a huge help in making my experience a lot warmer. You had no choice but to converse and do everything with these strangers, at least my roommates and I did. 

I call myself a late bloomer as a joke, but honestly its helped me come to terms with the fact that even though I chose to be more active within the college community my last two years, it did not hinder me from making friends in class, being close with my professors or even the really nice baristas I see every morning. 

You have more time than you think you do. College doesn’t end when you graduate. The connections you make solely on academics make a tremendous difference in life post graduation. Most people don’t remember the people they see at the bar, but they do remember who showed up for class the next day. 

Blair Bernard is a 20-year-old theater major from Lafayette, LA.