There's a lot of advice I could give you about the next four years of your life. There's a ton of stuff I could tell you that you should or shouldn't do and a mass of truisms I could throw at you about how important education is or whatever. I'm sure you've heard it all before.
But here's some advice you probably won't hear very often: Learn another language. Or two. Or three or four. Even if you already know more than one language, start working on another.
Picking up a new language isn't nearly as daunting of a task as it seems, and doing so can render great dividends in the future.
In the increasingly global economy, monolingualism is quickly becoming not only embarrassing, but counterproductive. Even in the U.S., one of the most historically monolingual countries in the world, we're quickly moving toward a society with more than one prevalent language.
At UF, you have access to perhaps some of the greatest linguistic resources you'll be exposed to in your lifetime. UF offers programs in more than 30 languages, living and dead. Don't just use your high school French to fulfill your foreign language requirement; learn something new while you have the chance.
Not only can learning another language increase your ability to communicate across barriers, but it can help you understand and appreciate a radically different culture. Learning Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Swahili requires not just a radically different linguistic skill set but an understanding of the cultural concepts underlying the language itself.
You'll also probably never get another opportunity to learn classical languages like you will at UF. A thorough study of the classics is integral to a solid foundation for your education and your life â€" and Cicero, Seneca, Plato and Thucydides didn't write in English. Their words simply have much more meaning and fluidity when read in the original text.
Not only that, but learning Latin and Greek will give you a deeper understanding of grammatical concepts and vocabulary in English as well.
Learning another language isn't just about being able to pick up chicks by reciting romantic Italian poetry. It's about being able to communicate in the 21st century (or in the first century B.C., as the case may be) and being able to appreciate other cultures. It should be a big part of your college experience.
