READ BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR COLLEGE

College is about learning. It's not as simple as learning whatever it is that's being taught in your required gen-ed classes though.

It's about learning how to listen, how to speak, how to think. Learning who you are, who your friends are, and the type of people you want as friends.

Learning how to trust your innermost feelings, and how to find those feelings in the first place. It's about learning what's really important to you, and learning what you really don't give a damn about.

College is about learning how to tolerate, how to accept, how to like and how to love. Learning how to give as well as you receive, and how to trust that everything will work itself out on it's own (you buy a pizza one night, your roommate will the next night).

It's about learning that your mom and dad actually do have the right answers sometimes, and that your kid sister isn't such a dumb little kid anymore. College is about learning how to treat people as people, not as stereotypes.

Learning that a kiss isn't just a kiss, that sometimes it means more, and that sometimes it means less. Learning how to achieve, how to succeed, how to accomplish.

It's about learning how to not come in first place and still be proud, and about coming in last and learning how to admit that you could have done better. College is about learning that loud parties don't necessarily mean a good time. Learning that loneliness doesn't go away in a crowd, and that sometimes it's okay to be by yourself on a Friday or Saturday night.

It's about learning that your lunchtime crowd doesn't constitute your popularity, and that popularity is all a matter of perspective. It's about learning that boredom is simply laziness of the mind, and that watching three hours of Thursday night NBC is not quality relaxation time.

College is about learning how to pack a bag, how to pack a car, and how to pack a room full of way too much stuff. Learning that people like you a whole lot more than they'll ever tell you and that it's your responsibility to make sure your friends know how much you appreciate them.

It's about learning that doing simply what you're supposed to do isn't enough. You need to put forth twice that much in order to fully grasp whatever it is that's sitting in front of you. It's about learning how to make people smile.

College is about learning how to love people enough not to stick them in the past, and how to not miss them so much that it keeps you from moving into the future. Learning how to motivate yourself and how to motivate others.

Learning what the phrase "make do" means, and how to use it to make it seem as if you're not simply "making do". It's about learning 25 different ways of saying "we made out" and how to swear in all the different languages of your class/floor/dorm/housemates.

College is about learning, learning how to live.