I remember being in the shoes of Spencer Holmes.

Holmes is a freshman at California University of Pennsylvania this year, as he is venturing to study environmental biology. He stood nervous outside Smith Hall, waiting for his parents to finish parking the car so they could come and assist him for the next journey of his life.

Holmes is now a resident of Smith Hall. It’s a whole new adventure for the young man, and for many other freshman who are moving away from home and into a dorm room with a complete stranger. However, Holmes had a positive outlook on the whole experience.

“I’m pretty excited for it all,” Holmes said. “I’ve been waiting to move in to Cal U for the whole summer. I’m just ready to meet new people and make new friends.”

Most freshmen don’t have the positive outlook that Holmes has. Many are nervous and even too scared to leave their dorm room for the orientation weekend activities. That’s not a bad thing; it’s OK to be nervous, especially when you’re moving away from mom and dad to a whole new place.

I remember not wanting to leave my dorm room for the orientation weekend activities. However, I soon realized that I would be getting nowhere with this new adventure by just sitting in my dorm room and watching Netflix while my roommate was down at the Convocation Center making new friends.

I buckled down and I went down. I met some of the greatest people that I’ll ever know. I met my current roommate, who is one of my dearest friends.

No new student at Cal U would be here if they all didn’t have the sense of adventure. That’s what college really is, just one big adventure. Meeting new people, making new friends, joining new clubs, and trying things you never thought you’d try is all about the college experience.

I’ll be honest, though. The college experience, while it’s great the majority of the time, isn’t quite always sunshine and roses. There’s going to be times where you’re extremely homesick. I only live about an hour away from Cal U, in Aliquippa, but the homesickness got to me a lot.

There’s going to be times where you and your roommate disagree and have a fight or two. That’s OK, but make the effort to patch things up. I’ve had my share of roommate problems, and I would never wish what I went through in that aspect on anyone else.

But aside from the times you’re going to want to call mom or dad and beg them to drive the six hours to pick you up and take you home for a weekend, college is worth it. There are so many good things to come out of this new adventure.

You just have to find it and take hold of the reins. Choose your own direction. Make the college memories that you want to make. And enjoy every single second of it.