Excited and Terrified - How I feel about going to College

For many people, going to college marks the first big step into adulthood. Most have to move away from home into the dorms or an own apartment and have to get by without their parents for a longer period of time. 

Of course everyone has worries about this new phase of life, but there are probably just as many hopes as there are fears. So in order to demonstrate just how normal it is to feel like this, I'll be telling you about my hopes and fears one week before I'll be heading to college. 

First of all, I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed. I've been talking to quite a bunch of people who are attending this exact college lately and they all said that it's a lot of work and pretty hard. Well, except for a few who said that they really liked going there since it's the best opportunity to make friends! Looking at the books we had to buy, it seems like it won't be managable to ever get a broader knowledge about this subject matter and this really scares me. 

On the other side, I'm so excited to get to know new people. I think there's no better chance of making friends than when you are studying the same subject voluntarily. I mean, that indicates that you do have similar interests, doesn't it?

My college is a bit special; other colleges have more than one course to offer and (at least in Germany) you're widely left alone with digging into the matter. At my college, we'll be organised into classrooms and the lecturers will teach almost like at school. Questions will be asked and answered, tasks will be given and there will be homework. This makes everything a bit less new to us, but there are so many horrible stories about this place that we're actually all scared of how it will actually be in the end. 

I'm really afraid of living on my own, only seeing my parents on the weekends. I mean, what am I supposed to do when something goes wrong and my parents can't help me? Of course, I'm old enough to solve problems myself, but there probably are some problems that I have never had before and don't know how to deal with. 

Living away from my parents for the first time can also be an opportunity though. I will make a lot of new experiences and I won't have to listen to them complaining about my messy desk anymore.

I'm scared that I might not make friends with anyone in college. Like, how am I supposed to survive the stressful phases without anyone to get my thoughts away from the textbooks every once in a while? 

Looking at it a bit more realistic, I'll probably find a bunch of nice people to spend my time with. I mean, among 250 newbies, I'm pretty sure at least a few will like me just the way I am. 

The one thing that most terrifies me about going to college is the tests. I was so glad when school was over and I had three months off. In Germany, the longest holiday we ever get at school is six weeks, so three months were like kind of an eternal phase of freedom to me. Well, at least until it ended three weeks ago when I had to start working. I'm so worried about the tests because I'll have to sit there in front of my desk for hours every day after classes and learn everything we've done so far. I remember doing this for the Abitur exams and I think these were the most horrible weeks of my life so far. And the people going to this college keep telling us that the Abitur was fun compared to this. 

But I'm confident that I will make it. Maybe it's exactly what I've always wanted since I was quite bored at school usually. Maybe studying this will be kind of fun. At least I keep reminding myself of the fact that so many people have made it through this course before me. 

The key is to keep believing that you will make it. Believe it with all your heart any it will be true. Don't let others get you down and stay excited about the years ahead of you!