Every year, thousands of freshmen trickle onto the campus of the University of Georgia excited, anxious, and a little lost. It’s perfectly fine to be lost and confused. We all were at one point. To be honest, some of us still are.

We were so excited to leave our parents, but we quickly found out we shouldn’t have been so hasty. We did our own laundry. We had to wake ourselves up for class. We had to buy Sunday dinner.

We were lost on our first Orbit bus. We remember the bus door closing in our face even when we yelled and ran toward the bus. We remember trying to look at the bus routes’ map in our book-bag not trying to look like lost freshman.

We lost our breath going up the endless stairs toward Park Hall. We found it nearly impossible to get between classes in 15 minutes. We wrote English portfolios. We took Chemistry and Biology, unfortunately.

We remember being “approached” by the Tate preacher. We remember getting flyer after flyer in Tate Quad. We remember dodging socks and running for our lives during Humans v Zombies Week, even though we weren’t even playing.

We were surprised, but we loved it when Ms.Sandra put us in her welcoming embrace everyday in Snelling. We filled our faces with more eggs and grits than we were supposed to after 12am “Snellibrating.” With that, we found out that the “Freshman 15” was very much real.

We were floored at the price of textbooks. We were taken back being in a 300-person lecture hall. We crammed for tests and pulled all-nighters. Jittery Joe’s and Starbucks took a lot of our money.

We studied, but we also had fun. We all vividly remember our first downtown Athens experience. Some of us even remember our first party. Maybe.

We remember collecting coins for the $1 movies in Tate. We remember our first UGA concert. We remember the long lines for Dawgs After Dark.

We all remember those classic fall Saturday afternoons Between the Hedges. We cheered. We cried. We thought we were the coach even from the stands.

We pointed to the South corner. We put our four fingers up. We sung Glory, Glory even when our vocal chords begged us to rest. We sat and watched the Dawgs take down every foe with 92, 746 of our closest family and friends in Sanford Stadium.

Most importantly, we asked for help, most times from complete strangers. We are all family, even if we don’t know each other just yet.

We have been right were you are right now. Don’t hesitate to ask for help. You’re not stupid if you ask someone for help or become any less independent.

At the same time, don’t be afraid to bump your head, just don’t bump it too hard. You are going to stumble and sometimes fall. Always have the strength to get back up. If you can’t, ask one of us and we will grab you.

UGA ELITE would love to officially welcome the class of 2018 to the University of Georgia.

Follow us on Twitter @UGAELITE. Follow our blog. Email us if you have questions eliteuga@gmail.com

Oh, yeah… GO DAWGS.