This time last year, I’d just finished my first year on the Hill and wrote a commentary on lessons I learned as a freshman. I’m returning now with some added wisdom, or maybe it’s just bits of confusion. You decide.

10. Be kind to thy roommates. They will only put up with so much. I think I pushed a final button on mine this year because she blew up and told me I needed therapy. Ouch. Maybe the comment was deserved at the time. Hey, we’re swell now. (But I wouldn’t be surprised if, somewhere on the Internet, I’m on a Top 25 list of people to steer clear of living with.)

9. Those trendy coffee places on campus have one purpose: to suck your wallet dry. I figure I spent about 90 bucks a month this winter on those $3.50 caramel macchiatos.

8. Get a job. I did, and when I go, I feel responsible. I still find the more I make, the more debt I fall into. It’s this sick, growing plot against me.

7. Make yourself heard. Kids, I don’t work for the Herald. I simply convince these kind people to let me randomly share my opinion with all 17,000 of ya.

6. Vodka leads to drama. Stick with beer, and you’ll be in the clear. (In moderation, as always.)

5. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die. Don’t take anything too seriously, unless you’re failing…slacker. I can use that term because I never slack. (Place laughing convulsions here.)

4. Wait until after spring break to hit the gym and tanning beds. Sure, you’ll turn up a pasty-white fatty on the beach. Think of Donkey Lips on Nickelodeons’ old camp show “Salute Your Shorts.” But hey, after April 1, you won’t have to fight lines to get to a workout machine or cancer bed.

3. “Shame on you if you hurt me once, shame on me if you hurt me twice.” Lyrics that hold true to the concept. If nothing positive came out of an involvement with somebody the first time, a second time around probably won’t amount to anything either.

2. Don’t become too anxious to graduate. Stick around to live and learn from this college thing. Myself, I’m still somewhat immature, and I often act before thinking. The sum of my vices sometimes takes a toll on my character, but at the same time, I believe that everything happens for a reason and contributes to the person you’ll become.

1. I’ve learned the most complicated person to figure out is yourself. If people question your actions, tell them not to bother trying to understand you because you don’t have yourself down yet; unless you do, in which case, many congrats are in order to that achievement.

Good luck on finals, y’all. Don’t work too hard this summer. If you go somewhere decent, send me a postcard. Or just catch me in August. I turn 21 in the fall, and things should get interesting, kids.

Amy Roberts is a sophomore textile design and merchandising major from Owensboro.

The opinions expressed in this commentary reflect only those of the writer and not of the Herald or of Western Kentucky University.