As you enter college, pay attention again to everything that has ever interested you through your life. Interest is talent. Interest may even be divine direction. Interest may point toward your real future. Grab this amazing opportunity to see where your interests might lead… even if they don’t fit neatly into your anticipated major.
If homesickness comes, know that… though excruciating… it is temporary.
It may last days, weeks, or months… but it will go away. Talk with student counselors, close friends, and your family about it as often as needed. You’ll feel better. And don’t let it color your feelings about college, fellow students, or your courses. Don’t let it ruin what may well be the best days of your life.

Pay attention to the music on your record player, radio, CD/MP3 player, or iPad… as the evening breeze brushes through the curtains and breaks your concentration. These tunes will live among your strongest, most-loved memories when your college days are long behind.

Pay attention to your wine-and-cheese study dates. Savor the Bordeaux and Brie. Whether your date stays with you through the years or not, you will always love the foods you enjoyed together.

As much as is safe, walk your campus in every season, climate, and hour. Experience every nook and cranny. You’ll replay the details of your college journey long after classes and tests have become a vague recollection.

Keep fraternities and sororities in their place. Don’t let any group sway you from your personal values. Yes, these organizations are great for campus social life… but the “bonds” that you build in them may well fade as the decades pass. The friendships you form outside the Greek system (with professors and other students) may prove just as enduring (or more).

As difficult as college courses may seem, you aren’t a “study computer.” Work hard, of course, but leave your desk or library carrel once in a while. Get out. Get involved. Your memories of college (unlike a computer’s software) will become feelings 20, 30, 50 years down the road. So between studying, interning, and cramming for tests, pay attention to what’s going on around campus and across the globe. Participate. And pay attention to you... as an active player in it all... during your glorious college years.