Freshman year is a big change. No matter where you are from or where you are heading, we have all come together here at CSU to share knowledge, experience and ideas.

As you packed for this experience, you probably thought you crammed of all the necessary essentials into moving boxes: a toothbrush, some posters, that lucky pair of leopard underwear.

You probably thought you had everything you would ever need. Well, here is a small list of a few things you may have forgotten:

Alcohol (the disinfecting kind)

First aid is critical for when you get run over by (or run over someone with) a bike or long board.

Also, if those empty sidewalks you’re walking on are actually bike paths, you may deserve it.

Practical clothing

Fort Collins weather changes in an instant, so be prepared for anything mother nature may throw at you. Including hail. Layers are extremely important, as it is possible that the weather when you leave for class and when you get out of class look nothing alike.

Don’t pack too many fancy clothes unless you are rushing, especially when living in the dorms. They take up too much closet space, and you probably won’t use most of it. Think practically and pack things you can wear around campus.

This also means packing shoes that can withstand big puddles and that you can easily walk in all day, everyday. Uggs are not practical snow boots.

Reliable headphones and iPod

Take earbuds and an iPod to listen to with you everywhere, especially when you have a long way to walk or ride.

Three-ring binders

In high school, you needed them for your loose-leaf assignments and homework. In college, you need them to hold your loose-leaf textbooks. Yes, that is a thing.

Childhood movies and cartoons

Bring them even if you never liked some of them, but especially the ones you loved. When your first month of college has kicked your butt, you will wish you could just go back to a simple time when you were stress-free. What you liked as a child, and pretended to hate in high school, is cool again.

Mementos

Aside from filling your room with that awesome CSU poster and a shrine to Tony Frank’s beard, fill your walls and windowsills with photos of family and close friends that remind you of good times when you get homesick.

Motivation

Surround yourself with people and things that inspire you. If you’re not careful, you may find yourself without the motivation to keep working hard. Have something you can see every day that reminds you why you put in the effort to get where you are today, and why you need to keep working to get to where you want to be.

Now that you know the basics, you can stop worrying about what’s in your dorm and focus more on where you go from here as you enter this crazy world that is college.

Surviving is only a small piece; the rest is up to you.

Collegian A&E Writer Kedge Stokke can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @KedgeStokke.