The Ev0lution of Country Music

Walking into my first-year as a college student, I had no idea what to expect. The transition from high school to college was different, in an exciting way–like the ability to trek the unknown and find your place.

Whether you’re a student who is nowhere near college, or a student nearing your college career, or you’re currently in college, here are some things I’ve learned after being a first-year freshman.

Actually Attend Your Classes

Although some professors don’t have a strict attendance policy, still attending class as much as you can will help your professor distinguish between the students who want to be there versus the ones that don’t. They will notice that you’re there, if you’re trying to be noticed one step further, answering a question in class can help this as well.

Being present and genuinely paying attention in your classes will make you a better student. I wrote a paper once about active and passive listening and my perspective on how I viewed the classrooms drastically changed. I learned that what I did in my least interesting subjects was drown the lecture out and converted it into background noise, and instead, the ones I was interested in, I actively participated in. As a result of this, the classes that I was more interested in, I got higher grades, and in the ones I didn’t think were as interesting, I scored lower than I would have liked.

Create A Good Sleep Schedule

In my high school years, I used to get up at business operation hours during the summer. My mom would come into my room at about seven in the morning and the day would be planned out. I was only allowed to be on my phone and other electronics for a set amount of time and the rest of it was used for productivity time or family time. However, when I got into my sophomore and junior year of high school I stayed up really late–sometimes until two, three, or even four in the morning. My mom would still come into my room and wake me up for the day, but I wasn’t as happy as the summers before. Then, I graduated high school, my diploma and my poor sleep schedule with me. I moved to my current home now and the productive summer was still intact, but with the caveat that I am transitioning into a college student and an adult now, so I have to be responsible for how my time is spent. The summer before college I thrived off of some hours of sleep, not many, but I was living. I started college in the Fall of 2025, my sleep schedule was good, ironically, I was in bed before 11 pm some nights, and right before midterms something changed, my sleep schedule crashed and it became worse than in high school. I’ve had multiple days that I can count where I was up for more than a day, with my most recent being over 36 hours awake—why? I have no idea honestly, but it happened, and I remember it. Additionally, staying out with friends late at night will mess with your sleep schedule. Having days dedicated to going out late at night, instead of doing it all the time will also help you build a quality sleep schedule.

My advice being: set a time to go to sleep that is reasonable based on your course load and around your study time. By “going to sleep” I don’t mean to lay in your bed and scroll through Instagram or TikTok for hours, I mean actually lay there, no devices. The thing that worked for me to get my sleep schedule back on track was to set my phone on silent with no notifications allowed to bypass it and lay down in my bed at 11 or 12 pm. I can assure you, after you commit to it for about two weeks or so, your circadian rhythm will reset and you’ll be able to sleep better and on schedule.

Join a Community

If you’re a college student, or not, the ability to have an outlet as somewhere to relax is powerful. I was hesitant to join a community on-campus because I’m more on the shy, introverted, antisocial side, but there were some really good opportunities that I didn’t want to miss on-campus. I’m not involved in Greek Life, so that was out of the question, but I found niche communities, like the creative writing club, the school newspaper team, and the car show off (essentially what they are) team. The creative writing club was so small, it started in my first semester and to my shock, I was offered the Vice President position, which has made me so much more confident in my work, even if the only thing we do is hangout and talk about our works. I write for my school’s newspaper, which is also part of the reason as to why this blog is here! I wanted somewhere outside of the semi-professional setting to push more of my work out there. The deadlines aren’t hard to meet, but I want to be able to incorporate my voice, and not the general student voice, which at times can be good and bad depending on the topic that is being covered in that issue. Regardless, being in a community will help you feel like you belong somewhere, and it will help you make more friends!

Save the Hundreds, Spend the Tens

As a college student, who was unemployed, and technically is still unemployed, you will learn that money is not just something you can ask your parents for anymore. There is this weight that you feel when you ask—knowing that you’re not some little kid window shopping and your mom giving into buying you ice cream. Now that you’re getting older, things are more expensive. If you have a car or an apartment then you definitely face the struggle of eating out and buying random, frivolous things, but not having any money to put where it matters. I saw a post on TikTok one day, where it talks about “saving the hundreds, and spending the tens,” and since the beginning of the second semester, I have tried so hard to do that. There are times where I slipped, but I have been trying nonetheless. I get paid from my on-campus job about every two-weeks and that totals to roughly $30 a month, which if you put it into perspective is not a lot at all, but there are things you can do to help build a savings fund.

Most colleges make you buy their textbooks and you can sell them back for a percentage of them–not at the full price which is upsetting, but overall it is what it is. If you have textbooks piling up that you are sure that you won’t use for the next few years, then I recommend checking out World of Books. There is a sell your books option, and all you have to do is add the ISBN of your book to the search bar in the app and you can follow the instructions to sell them to that company and in real time it will show you what your books are worth. The process is fairly easy, and it can help with building up a savings fund. Being independent is nice, once all of the details of how things will be paid for and that whole concept is ironed out, but there is hope!

Work OUTSIDE of your Living Area

I found this out my first semester, I slacked off and my GPA was not where I wanted it to be at all. Do not do your homework, classwork, or any academics in your dorm, at all. You will constantly want to get in your bed and relax. Study and complete your work in a place that is a good walk or drive from where you live. Your productivity will be influenced by the setting that you’re in—believe it or not, you will get more done than you think. Something that I have come to find out in the second semester is that if you want to do your work in your room that desperately, bring a friend who also has to do homework. In doing this it would become a study hang out, which subconsciously, if done properly will motivate both parties, and hopefully will result in the successful completion of assignments. The more and more you procrastinate on your work, and not wanting to leave your room will eventually become frustrating. You will feel more exhausted, which could result in sleeping through multiple classes every day, not getting anything done which you would feel even worse about. 

Closing Statement

I had a wonderful first year in college and obviously I’m not Albert Einstein, I don’t have all the answers about everything, but I can give my insight on my college experience up to this point. I found who I was and I truly found out who I was not. College is not about having all the answers, but finding your place in where you are. I have learned to take leaps of faith into unknown waters, and I am excited to start this journey with all my readers by my side. Thank you for supporting me, I can’t wait to see where it all leads to!