So you're off to college next fall, huh? Get ready to meet incredible friends, learn tons about yourself and grow in your faith like you won't believe.

And be ready for some big challenges. You're about to go through a major life change, complete with emotional, mental and spiritual hurdles to get over. Knowing what those challenges are—and how to handle them—can help get your college experience off to a great start.

All through high school, my best friend and I talked about how excited we would be to leave for college and finally get away from our boring small town. So imagine how stunned I was when, a few weeks into our freshman year, she walked into my dorm room in tears. All she could say was, "I miss my family."

Before long, we were both crying and feeling like idiots for being so silly. I mean, we were two independent, mature girls who really wanted to be at college. But we still missed our moms.

If you've ever been homesick, you know it's one of the worst feelings ever. It's also a natural reaction for anyone leaving the familiar people and places they love. So what can you do about homesickness?

First, let someone know how you're feeling. There will be resident assistants (R.A.s) in your dorm who are trained to help you work through the emotions that come along with starting college. Or grab a friend to talk to. If you share what's going on inside you, you might just find someone else feeling the same way.

Also, give yourself a chance to get adjusted. The best pre-college advice I got was from my older brother, who told me not to come home until the first scheduled break in October. He knew from experience that those first weeks of college are packed with opportunities to meet new people.

Another way to deal with homesickness is to remember home the way it really was. When I missed home, I thought of my hometown as the most charming place a person could ever live. And I remembered my high school friends as the most fun people on earth. I'd completely forgotten all those boring Friday nights my friends and I sat around trying to think of something to do.

Most of all, try to think of the good side of homesickness. Instead of focusing on how much you miss your friends and family, think about how God has blessed your life through the people who love you. Homesickness is a sign that you have deep, lasting relationships in your life. Each of those relationships is a precious gift from God.

A lot of new students feel intensely lonely in those first weeks of college. If you find yourself feeling lonely, there are a few things you can do to get yourself out of the dumps. To start with, remember that while loneliness, like homesickness, is a cruddy feeling, it's also a perfectly natural response to being in a strange, new place.

Do your best to keep perspective. When you're on a campus full of new people, making new friends can seem incredibly overwhelming. But you don't have to meet all those people tomorrow. Set small goals for yourself, like getting to know one of your dorm mates a little better. You're going to be at college for a few years. You've got plenty of time for friendships to grow slowly and naturally.

Making friends also requires someone to take the first step. If you wait around for others to ask you to eat dinner with them, or join them for a movie, you may have to wait a long time. So go ahead and do the asking. Even if you can only get the nerve up to ask your R.A. to sit with you at a meal, the chances are good a few others will join you. It won't be long before you'll know some new names and they'll know yours. And that's how friendships get started.

Class projects and study groups often lead to new friendships, too. Ask the professor if there's a study group you can join. Or start one of your own with a few people from your favorite class. These groups can give you a great opportunity to get to know people without feeling like you're forcing a friendship.

One more tip: Going to church is important. It's also a great place to make new and lasting friendships. And many churches in college towns have fellowship groups or Bible studies just for college students. So starting checking out churches right away.

A word of caution: Both homesickness and loneliness are feelings that should fade during your first few months at college. If you still find yourself miserable by the time Christmas break rolls around, talk to your R.A., a campus counselor or your parents.

If you're the kind of high school student who's well known and involved in everything, college can have another surprise for you: anonymity.

I went to a small high school with people I'd known since kindergarten. I was heavily involved in school activities and had a reputation as a student leader. Then I got to college. Suddenly, I was surrounded by students and professors who didn't know anything about me. Since I thrive on recognition, it was a difficult transition for me.

If you're like me, the best thing to do is find a niche, a place where your gifts and talents can be expressed and appreciated. From the campus theater to the economics club, there are plenty of opportunities to try new activities, find friends with common interests and make a name for yourself on campus.

For some college freshmen, the biggest stress is the academic pressure. Until you experience college classes for yourself, no one can say how hard or easy they'll be for you. But no matter how challenging you find your studies, one thing's for sure: They won't be anything like high school.

For starters, most classes are set up as lectures, meaning you listen while the professor talks. And as you listen, you're supposed to be taking notes. If you've never taken notes before, this can be a pretty tricky task, since no one can write as fast as the professor talks. But most profs don't expect you to write down every word they say, just the main points. As you take notes, organize them in outline form by writing down major points and supporting details. When test time rolls around, you'll be glad your notes are logical and easy to read. Another tip: If the professor puts something on the board, write it down.

You'll also discover the classes are longer, sometimes lasting nearly an hour and a half. That can be a very long time to focus on one subject. To help yourself out, bring a snack or water bottle. Surprisingly, the whole note-taking thing helps too. It keeps you involved in the class and makes the time go faster.

You can also help yourself out by doing the class assignments on time. That may seem like obvious advice, but with all the distractions of college life, it's easy to get behind. On the first day of class, your professor will probably hand out something called a syllabus—a list that tells what will be covered in the course, including reading assignments, test dates and other projects. Since most of your big papers and tests will come later in the term, stay caught up (or even work ahead) on the reading and smaller projects. It takes a lot of discipline, but it's well worth the effort.

And what about those professors? Well, they really are people. And most of them genuinely want to help you get the most out of their classes. Yes, they expect a lot from students. They expect you to do your best on each assignment they make. As long as my professors saw I was trying to do a good job, they were very willing to help me out when I was stumped by something.

No matter how shy or outgoing you are, college presents one challenge every new student faces: dealing with newfound independence. When you're in high school, the freedom of college life—making your own schedule, choosing your own friends and coming and going when you please—sounds awfully appealing. But with that new independence comes a lot of responsibility.

When you're in charge of yourself, everything from laundry to budgeting your cash to choosing a major becomes your job. Since I hate getting up early (like, before noon), I arranged my schedule so I didn't have a single class until 10:30 a.m. The problem was, I didn't like getting up at 10 any more than I liked getting up at 7 back in high school. And since I was free to hit snooze as many times as I liked with no mom to get me going, it was pretty tempting to let that 10:30 a.m. class start without me. As much as I had looked forward to being on my own, part of me wished my parents were still helping me make decisions.

Part of being independent means getting yourself through the day without a major crisis. But it also means making choices that will affect the rest of your life. Once you're on your own, it's tempting to do the things you may have said no to in high school—things like drinking, experimenting with drugs or having sex. Even at a Christian college, you might be tempted to put your values aside for a night or two and let loose. And it can be awfully difficult not to give in. But the consequences of these decisions can be a lot more serious than an unpaid phone bill or dirty laundry.

There are things you can do before going to college that can prepare you for your coming "independence day." For example, if you don't already have your own bank account, ask your parents to help you set one up. Then, see how you can manage your own money for the next few months. Make sure you know how to do the laundry. And learn to cook a few simple things. Most importantly, keep your spiritual life strong. Develop habits for prayer and Bible study you can take with you to college. And ask your family and friends to pray for you as you take this next step in life. When you hit campus, you'll be ready for your new freedom.

For me, all these other changes were easy to deal with compared to the changes I went through with my faith. When I arrived at my small Christian college, I thought I knew exactly who God was and what my life as a Christian was all about.

Boy, was I in for a surprise.

As I sat in my classes and talked with other students, I realized my faith was something I'd never really thought about for myself. I actually had to think about why I believed what I said I believed. And as I did, my faith was stretched more than ever.

You may think that attending a Christian college will mean you'll be surrounded by Christians who think just like you. Fortunately, that's not the case. Without other Christians to challenge us, our faith can become stale. We need to ask questions of each other, and be prepared to discuss our lives as Christians. When we do, our understanding of our amazing God grows and our faith becomes even stronger. In fact, our faith really begins to become more and more our own—and not just an extension of what our parents or friends believe.

To my surprise, I made it through my freshman year in pretty good shape. Sure, there were tough times. But I have lots of great memories too—like Nerd Bowling with our "brother floor," midnight ice cream runs with my roommate and endless laughs with the girls who lived in my dorm. And God used all of it, the hard parts and the fun parts, to help me grow in my relationship with him.

Between homesickness, finding new friends and meeting the demands of your classes, starting college is full of challenges. But with a little confidence, a little courage and a lot of prayer, you're going to have the time of your life.

Here are 8 ways to keep your friendships and family relationships alive while you're at college:

1. Get the news. Read your local and high school newspaper. If it's impractical to have the papers sent weekly or daily, ask your parents to send a few select issues in care packages. And if your hometown paper or old high school has a decent website, be sure to go online for local events, news and happenings.
2. Give the news. No doubt your friends and family are interested in knowing what's happening in your new world. So send them articles from your school paper once in a while. (Be sure to send them articles that mention you or something you're involved in.) Make sure they have correct web information about your school and know how to access event calendars. After all, they might like to plan a visit around a sporting event, concert, play or other campus happening.
3. Surprise the folks. If you're not too far away, plan a surprise visit home for a family member's birthday or other special occasion. But be sure someone knows you're coming. If not, you might get there when everyone's on their way to visit you!
4. Connect online. Plan to meet family and friends regularly in a private chat room. Also, a blog or online journal is a great way to let family and friends know about your day-to-day happenings. Some of these online blog services are free, like xanga and blogger.
5. Picture your world. Ask a friend to take pictures of you at various "landmarks" on campus. Have fun with crazy poses. Place these in a small photo scrapbook, with a fun caption for each photo. Or post your photos on your or your family's homepage. Here's an alternative that could be fun: Instead of sending or posting all the pictures at once, send or post one a week over a series of weeks. Your parents, youth group and friends will no doubt wait expectantly for each photo to come their way.
6. Remember the little things. Send homemade cards on important occasions. Send a friend a buck and ask him/her to buy your little sib's favorite candy bar and then deliver it. Purchase gift certificates to your mom and dad's favorite fast-food restaurant and mail them with a quick note saying, "Hey, you fed me all these years. Have one on me!" Whatever you do, be creative and give it a personal touch.
7. Note the family weekends. Be sure you and your family take advantage of the dates of on-campus family and sibling weekends. If your family's unable to visit, see if your youth pastor and a group of friends can come and be your "family" for at least part of the weekend.
8. Give your friends a video tour. If you can borrow a camcorder, have someone videotape you taking a "walking tour" around campus. Point out places of interest. Do brief, candid interviews with students or profs. Keep the "video tour" light with funny comments throughout.

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