September 4, 2025 • 8 mins
Turning up the pace, Jerome discusses the 7 main lessons he has taken away from university over his first week. Regardless of your attention span, you will leave this episode with a sense of relatability, relief, or confidence!
00:00 Introduction
00:42 Making friends
01:39 Chill dawg
02:47 It's ok
03:39 Best organization software/system
04:58 Showing up for people
05:50 Roommate/friend hack
06:57 Advice you need to hear
07:38 Closing
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All right, this is going to be avery interesting episode.
I have never done something likethis before, but I'm going to
try a new style where I'm going to be listing off 7 takeaways I
have learned in the last week, AKA my first week at university,
and I'm going to do it in 7 minutes.
(00:21):
So I'm going to start the timer.Well, actually, before I do
that, I'm just going to say hello guys.
Nice to see you guys again or maybe for the first time.
My name is Jerome Ambaga and this is my podcast called Free
to Grow with Jerome Ambaga and Irelease an episode every
Thursday, so I hope you guys enjoy it.
OK. All right, number one, this is
(00:44):
going to sound a little controversial, but making
friends is actually really easy.And I know this is coming from a
person who I like to call myselfextroverted.
Like, I'm not like a shy person,but it actually is really easy
whether or not you're shy or you're outgoing for the sole
reason of the fact that everybody wants friends.
(01:05):
So even if you're shy, going up to another shy person, the
conversation might be awkward initself, yes, but it's very easy
for a friendship to come out of that awkward conversation or
smooth conversation because it'sso much like kindergarten where
like you can go up and say, hey,how are you doing?
This is that you guys are friends.
Boom. So taking advantage of that,
(01:29):
it's just it's a really unique experience and you just really
don't want to waste it and maybedo it later on in the year when
friend groups are like, really, really solidified.
All right, next point's been a minute point #2 it is OK to not
be doing anything. I know it may feel like you
always have to be doing something, especially within the
(01:51):
first week because there's so much.
There's so many like Frosh events and so many like
orientation things. And then you have classes and
there's just, there's so much going on and it's so
overwhelming because we don't have this experience back in
high school. But it's OK to not be doing
anything. There are times I find myself in
(02:13):
my bed just chilling there scrolling on TikTok.
It's something I did last year. It's not something that's really
going to go away this year. At the same time, make sure
you're putting yourself out there, but don't like go out for
the sake of thinking that you need to go out.
If you don't want to go out and party with your friends, that's
OK. That will mean that actually
we'll get to that later. That will mean that you will
(02:35):
miss out on some experiences. But if you don't want to go out,
don't go out. If you don't even even during
the daytime, just just tell bro,it's just, it's just life.
It's just life. You're only going to get to do
it once. Do it your way.
OK point #3 leading into that point, people are going to leave
you out or will not be your friend and that is OK.
(02:57):
And you need to accept that. Now.
Once you accept that, your social life will become way,
way, way more simple because of the fact that you're not going
to be tried, you're not going totry and people please everyone.
So although I started off by saying you can make friends with
everyone, yes, that's not necessary to say you should be
friends with everyone because I think it's not very possible
(03:19):
that you will be or or get alongwith everyone perfectly.
So maybe your person likes to stay in your own a bit more and
your friend group looks to go out and it's not you.
Or maybe you have to go out and your friend group doesn't.
Or maybe you'd like something that your friend group like,
doesn't like. They will not be friends with
you for that. If that's the reason for them to
stop being friends with you, then maybe you shouldn't have
been friends with them in the very first place.
(03:40):
OK, moving on. Step #4 switching gears away
from a social setting. Damn, we are going fast here.
Switching away from a social setting.
I want to look at more of the organizational disciplinary
setting when it comes to the school portion of university.
My key point here is get your organization systems set up as
(04:01):
soon as possible, preferably before whatever you're planning
for happens. I do this best with an app
called Notion. You guys have probably heard of
it on TikTok. It's not like a niche app at
all. Go download it like right now.
You can get it on your phone andyour app.
It's like the most useful tool for organization ever.
(04:21):
You can. It's like having notes,
reminders, Excel, calendar, PowerPoint all in one.
There is a free version and the free version is amazing.
You can also pay. There's different like plans.
I don't think you're like reallygoing to need it, but if you
want to do that, go do that in your life.
Another thing, get a dry erase marker like calendar for your
(04:46):
wall because I promise you it will be so useful.
Just have those dates right in front of you and make sure to
stay on top of it and keep your room clean because your space
does affect you. All right, moving.
Oh, Oh no. Anyway, all right, moving on to
point #5 or five. Showing up for people is hard.
(05:08):
You're moving away, or maybe you're not moving away, or maybe
you're staying at home. Wherever you are, you're moving
on to a different experience. And that is hard to show up for
people who are in your previous experience.
And I say this because like, I felt really bad because one of
my really, really good friends from high school called me the
other day and I was out and didn't get to answer and I
really want to talk to my friends but I couldn't or maybe
(05:30):
it didn't. That sucks.
I'm also in a long distance relationship and I've been
having a lot of trouble with that.
And my girlfriend, I love her somuch, but it is very hard and
we're trying to navigate throughthat.
But I think things will be great.
The point is, is showing up people's hard.
I don't have anything inspirational to say about that.
It's just don't beat yourself totalk about it.
It it happens to everyone. Number six, so we're going past
(05:54):
number six is communication is key.
This one is huge for people who have roommates.
This is huge. I have a roommate, super great
guy. It was a random roommate.
I didn't know him at all. He was from Toronto where I
live, but he I didn't, I had never heard of him or been in
contact with him. And the way we operate is great.
(06:14):
We are friends like outside of the dorm room.
But even if we weren't, the way to make that work is to
communication, say like, hey, man, I'm not, I don't really
like it when you do this. Can we switch to this instead?
Or I'm going to be going to bed now.
You keep that in mind. So maybe don't like come back to
the room with a bunch of friends.
You know, communication is key and it's OK to tell someone hey
(06:36):
I'm just going to go do this by myself.
Like if you want to talk by yourself, tell them that.
If I go to the gym by yourself, tell them that just
communication is key. I don't think anyone has ever
been upset because someone has respectfully communicated
something to them. And if they are upset that you
respectfully and politely communicate something to them,
maybe they shouldn't be your friend.
Last is point #7 this is a big one and you guys are not going
(07:01):
to want to hear it and I don't want to hear it either.
Hold yourself accountable. That is your one and only saving
grace in university because there is going to be so much
thrown at you and it's going to be easy to forget that.
After all, you are at a school and you are here to learn.
(07:21):
And it doesn't just have to do with academics.
Like, yes, attend all your classes, wake up at the time you
said you did, but it's more about remnants of life.
If you want to go get in the gym, go get in the gym.
Hold yourself accountable. Don't let things slide.
Build habits early because it will only be easier from there.
And with that, my time is up. That was that was a fast one.
(07:47):
That was a very, very fast one. I hope you guys enjoyed that
kind of style. I did that because I know I will
be getting a few more listeners on this episode in terms of
people that I'm meeting at university that are now coming
in contact with my podcast. So if you'd like it, go follow
it on whatever platform you're on.
(08:08):
This video on Spotify and YouTube, but it's also on a
bunch of other sharing platforms.
So give it a follow. I'll be here next Thursday and
thank you so much for listening.If you want to tell me about
your first week at university, Iwould love to hear it.
Shoot me a message or go to the link in my Instagram and there's
(08:29):
a spot there where you can put in podcast episode ideas.
If you have a situation in your life that you want to hear talk
about, I can give advice on it or just anything you want talked
about, shoot it there. So thank you so much and I will
see you guys next Thursday, Biker.
All right, this is going to be avery interesting episode.
I have never done something likethis before, but I'm going to
try a new style where I'm going to be listing off 7 takeaways I
have learned in the last week, AKA my first week at university,
and I'm going to do it in 7 minutes.
(00:21):
So I'm going to start the timer.Well, actually, before I do
that, I'm just going to say hello guys.
Nice to see you guys again or maybe for the first time.
My name is Jerome Ambaga and this is my podcast called Free
to Grow with Jerome Ambaga and Irelease an episode every
Thursday, so I hope you guys enjoy it.
OK. All right, number one, this is
(00:44):
going to sound a little controversial, but making
friends is actually really easy.And I know this is coming from a
person who I like to call myselfextroverted.
Like, I'm not like a shy person,but it actually is really easy
whether or not you're shy or you're outgoing for the sole
reason of the fact that everybody wants friends.
(01:05):
So even if you're shy, going up to another shy person, the
conversation might be awkward initself, yes, but it's very easy
for a friendship to come out of that awkward conversation or
smooth conversation because it'sso much like kindergarten where
like you can go up and say, hey,how are you doing?
This is that you guys are friends.
Boom. So taking advantage of that,
(01:29):
it's just it's a really unique experience and you just really
don't want to waste it and maybedo it later on in the year when
friend groups are like, really, really solidified.
All right, next point's been a minute point #2 it is OK to not
be doing anything. I know it may feel like you
always have to be doing something, especially within the
(01:51):
first week because there's so much.
There's so many like Frosh events and so many like
orientation things. And then you have classes and
there's just, there's so much going on and it's so
overwhelming because we don't have this experience back in
high school. But it's OK to not be doing
anything. There are times I find myself in
(02:13):
my bed just chilling there scrolling on TikTok.
It's something I did last year. It's not something that's really
going to go away this year. At the same time, make sure
you're putting yourself out there, but don't like go out for
the sake of thinking that you need to go out.
If you don't want to go out and party with your friends, that's
OK. That will mean that actually
we'll get to that later. That will mean that you will
(02:35):
miss out on some experiences. But if you don't want to go out,
don't go out. If you don't even even during
the daytime, just just tell bro,it's just, it's just life.
It's just life. You're only going to get to do
it once. Do it your way.
OK point #3 leading into that point, people are going to leave
you out or will not be your friend and that is OK.
(02:57):
And you need to accept that. Now.
Once you accept that, your social life will become way,
way, way more simple because of the fact that you're not going
to be tried, you're not going totry and people please everyone.
So although I started off by saying you can make friends with
everyone, yes, that's not necessary to say you should be
friends with everyone because I think it's not very possible
(03:19):
that you will be or or get alongwith everyone perfectly.
So maybe your person likes to stay in your own a bit more and
your friend group looks to go out and it's not you.
Or maybe you have to go out and your friend group doesn't.
Or maybe you'd like something that your friend group like,
doesn't like. They will not be friends with
you for that. If that's the reason for them to
stop being friends with you, then maybe you shouldn't have
been friends with them in the very first place.
(03:40):
OK, moving on. Step #4 switching gears away
from a social setting. Damn, we are going fast here.
Switching away from a social setting.
I want to look at more of the organizational disciplinary
setting when it comes to the school portion of university.
My key point here is get your organization systems set up as
(04:01):
soon as possible, preferably before whatever you're planning
for happens. I do this best with an app
called Notion. You guys have probably heard of
it on TikTok. It's not like a niche app at
all. Go download it like right now.
You can get it on your phone andyour app.
It's like the most useful tool for organization ever.
(04:21):
You can. It's like having notes,
reminders, Excel, calendar, PowerPoint all in one.
There is a free version and the free version is amazing.
You can also pay. There's different like plans.
I don't think you're like reallygoing to need it, but if you
want to do that, go do that in your life.
Another thing, get a dry erase marker like calendar for your
(04:46):
wall because I promise you it will be so useful.
Just have those dates right in front of you and make sure to
stay on top of it and keep your room clean because your space
does affect you. All right, moving.
Oh, Oh no. Anyway, all right, moving on to
point #5 or five. Showing up for people is hard.
(05:08):
You're moving away, or maybe you're not moving away, or maybe
you're staying at home. Wherever you are, you're moving
on to a different experience. And that is hard to show up for
people who are in your previous experience.
And I say this because like, I felt really bad because one of
my really, really good friends from high school called me the
other day and I was out and didn't get to answer and I
really want to talk to my friends but I couldn't or maybe
(05:30):
it didn't. That sucks.
I'm also in a long distance relationship and I've been
having a lot of trouble with that.
And my girlfriend, I love her somuch, but it is very hard and
we're trying to navigate throughthat.
But I think things will be great.
The point is, is showing up people's hard.
I don't have anything inspirational to say about that.
It's just don't beat yourself totalk about it.
It it happens to everyone. Number six, so we're going past
(05:54):
number six is communication is key.
This one is huge for people who have roommates.
This is huge. I have a roommate, super great
guy. It was a random roommate.
I didn't know him at all. He was from Toronto where I
live, but he I didn't, I had never heard of him or been in
contact with him. And the way we operate is great.
(06:14):
We are friends like outside of the dorm room.
But even if we weren't, the way to make that work is to
communication, say like, hey, man, I'm not, I don't really
like it when you do this. Can we switch to this instead?
Or I'm going to be going to bed now.
You keep that in mind. So maybe don't like come back to
the room with a bunch of friends.
You know, communication is key and it's OK to tell someone hey
(06:36):
I'm just going to go do this by myself.
Like if you want to talk by yourself, tell them that.
If I go to the gym by yourself, tell them that just
communication is key. I don't think anyone has ever
been upset because someone has respectfully communicated
something to them. And if they are upset that you
respectfully and politely communicate something to them,
maybe they shouldn't be your friend.
Last is point #7 this is a big one and you guys are not going
(07:01):
to want to hear it and I don't want to hear it either.
Hold yourself accountable. That is your one and only saving
grace in university because there is going to be so much
thrown at you and it's going to be easy to forget that.
After all, you are at a school and you are here to learn.
(07:21):
And it doesn't just have to do with academics.
Like, yes, attend all your classes, wake up at the time you
said you did, but it's more about remnants of life.
If you want to go get in the gym, go get in the gym.
Hold yourself accountable. Don't let things slide.
Build habits early because it will only be easier from there.
And with that, my time is up. That was that was a fast one.
(07:47):
That was a very, very fast one. I hope you guys enjoyed that
kind of style. I did that because I know I will
be getting a few more listeners on this episode in terms of
people that I'm meeting at university that are now coming
in contact with my podcast. So if you'd like it, go follow
it on whatever platform you're on.
(08:08):
This video on Spotify and YouTube, but it's also on a
bunch of other sharing platforms.
So give it a follow. I'll be here next Thursday and
thank you so much for listening.If you want to tell me about
your first week at university, Iwould love to hear it.
Shoot me a message or go to the link in my Instagram and there's
(08:29):
a spot there where you can put in podcast episode ideas.
If you have a situation in your life that you want to hear talk
about, I can give advice on it or just anything you want talked
about, shoot it there. So thank you so much and I will
see you guys next Thursday, Biker.
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