By Joy Margaret Scheuren, Junior Management Major The University of Alabama

What do I wish I knew, that I know now, about higher education when I was younger? Where shall I start?

LAUNDRY. Your heart will break a little each time you pay

$1.50 to wash and $1.25 to dry, but your conscience will thank you for clean clothes, sheets, and towels.

CIGARS. The third Saturday in October will be fun, but you must leave the stadium at least eight minutes before the end of the fourth quarter (or just leave before the fourth quarter if Alabama is winning by more than 21) if you don’t want to inhale cigar smoke every time you breathe. Take it from future you: Cigar smoke, especially in that quantity, is atrocious.

TAILGATES. Not that fun, but if you have food, it’s so much better.

CLASSES. All that hype about college professors being pr*cks isn’t the full truth. Most of them are great and you do a disservice to everyone, including yourself, when assume otherwise.

CLEANLINESS. You have undiagnosed OCD that will plague you and make you want to gouge out your eyes sometimes, but you’ll survive.

FLIP FLOPS. The entire male population sees them as a necessity and unfortunately, that is not changing anytime soon.

YIK YAK. Twitter on steroids, because it’s anonymous. Just as funny as Twitter, if not a little more.

MENTAL BREAKDOWNS. You’ll have a few, don’t be scared when you do. They’re cathartic, especially when your roommates are going through it too.

FRIDAY NIGHTS AT A BAR. It’s alright, but a cozy night in watching a movie with your friends and then going to bed at 10:30 is even better.

CALL YOUR MOM MORE. She will fix all your problems and

solve world hunger in the span of ten minutes. It’s awesome.

Also, everything will be okay. It doesn’t really get more cliché than that, but it also doesn’t get more true than that. All of those plans, decisions, goals, and ideas you have are great, but they won’t become a reality if you keep waiting for the perfect moment to start. The perfect moment to start is now, and then you can figure the rest out along the way. Quit being so afraid to fail that you never try (current me still hasn’t fully grasped this).

And, while you’re at it, please talk to people. In class, turn to the right and say, “Hi.” Introduce yourself to your professor. Go to interest meetings for clubs and organizations. DM a classmate to ask about an assignment (she’ll become your best friend by the way). Be curious about everything. It will make a difference when you want to have that girls’ night on a Friday but you don’t know who to invite. It also helps when you’re stuck in class and need someone to reteach the lesson to you because you were playing Wordle. I promise, everyone around you is just as scared as you are to talk to new people and even if the conversation goes nowhere, at least you made it through alive and can now yap about it to your mom.

Make mistakes. Live in the moment. College will go by in a flash so don’t forget to enjoy it. Some classes will not be as fun as others, but that doesn’t mean they can’t teach you something valuable. Art shows in Tuscaloosa are really cool. Goodwill is your best friend. Chocolate is the answer to any problem. Rejection only hurts for a little while. Boys are dumb, girls too. No one is judging your acne. Your outfit looks great. Do it for the plot. And. Once again. Everything will be alright.