For days, I’ve been agonizing over how to spend my first column.

It’s not that I’m strapped for ideas. Summer’s news has given me plenty.

I could talk about how Connecticut Democrats in 2006 came to politically crucify the same man they voted to be their vice president in 2000.

I could point out the obvious about Iran — that it continues to give the international community the finger and that no carrot is likely to keep it from building nukes. Or the obvious about Iraq — that it’s bad and will continue to get worse unless we re-evaluate our strategy there.

I could lament that the Israel Defense Forces didn’t do a better job beating the Shi’ite out of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

I could also give you my take on the broader War on Terror — where we are five years after 9/11 and one week after two-dozen Muslim extremists were arrested in England during the final stages of a plot to blow up ten U.S.-bound airplanes.

Those are all heavy topics, though, and I recognize that if you’re reading this Orientation-Week column, you’re probably either:

a) Drunk b) High or c) Faculty

I also realize that since a fair number of upperclassmen have yet to arrive — if you’re reading this between 9 and noon, I’m in a courthouse in Liberty, NY, contesting a year-old speeding ticket — there’s an awfully good chance you’re d) a freshman.

So I’ll keep the above columnns on the grill and devote this one to you, because if I could do my first semester over again, I would in a heartbeat. Not because it was good, but, frankly, because a good part of it sucked … and because if I had done just a few things differently, it could have been as great as the three semesters since.

In short, I wish I could give my freshman self some advice as he embarked on this four-year journey. But I can’t, so you’re going to get it. Enjoy:

1) Meet as many people as you can:

Those awkward ten-person circles can be, well, awkward. But nothing will steer you better through your first semester than a solid group of friends, and sometimes the surest way to find that early on is to interject yourself into as many of those awkward ten-person circles as time will allow. The window of opportunity in which “Hey, I’m Ben, which dorm are you in?” works as a conversation-starter closes pretty fast.

2) Give yourself an easy course load:

I wish Cornell had the same first-semester policy as MIT or Johns Hopkins — mandatory pass/fail grades — but it doesn’t.

So do yourself a favor and go easy on the credits. It should take you only one semester to learn how to get the grades you want, but it can take the next seven for your GPA to recover from that one first-semester C.

It’s not just your grades that will suffer if you bite off more than you can chew academically. You will suffer. There’s no feeling quite like drowning in thousands of pages of reading with three papers overdue.

So think of yourself as in weight-training. 12-14 credits this semester, maybe 15-17 the next, and probably 18+ at least once before you get out of here.

#3) Take a variety of courses:

Even if you’re 95 percent sure that you know what you want to major in — incidentally, so are most students who eventually switch majors — take a variety of introductory courses at the beginning. You may be turned onto something totally new, and even if not, it’s always useful to have a basic understanding of psychology, economics, sociology, linguistics, philosophy, American government, American history and international relations. Did I mention that the professors who teach those courses happen to be among the best at Cornell? (To avoid some of the worst, check out RateMyProfessors.com before taking any professor’s class.)

4) Get to know your professors:

Two things surprised me when I got to Cornell: one, how big my classes were and two, how easy it still was to get to know my professors if I made the effort. So go to office hours if you’re having trouble in a class, if you want more information on that department or if you just want to a chance to introduce yourself. Often lasting friendships come of those interactions, and I’ve learned that you can never have enough mentors at this school.

5) Start browsing those brochures:

Study Abroad, Urban Semester, Hughes Scholars, Cornell-in-Washington, Independent Major … Cornell offers plenty of unique academic options. And it’s never too early to start thinking about some of them. But be proactive. I would’ve missed out on a great opportunity had I not been tipped off by one of my professors about Arts and Sciences’ College Scholar Program — and its May application deadline for freshmen.

6) Get involved, but don’t spread yourself too thin:

I still remember hearing Arts & Sciences advising dean Ken Gabard say it in Barton Hall during Orientation Week: “If you do nothing outside your classes, at the end of four years here you’re going to be an awfully boring person; if all you do is outside your classes, at the end of four years here you’re going to be an awfully unemployed person.”

All those signup sheets look tempting, but be careful how many commitments you make early on. Those one-hour-a-week meetings can really add up.

Having a few energy outlets other than studying and partying, though, will make your Cornell experience more rewarding in the end.

That’s a good place to start, but don’t stop there. Get as much advice as you can — from older students, older siblings, Cornell staff. You never know the difference one useful piece of advice could make down the road.

You only get one first semester. So do it right.

Ben Birnbaum is a junior in the College f Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at bhb9@cornell.edu. Infomaniacs Anonymous appears Tuesdays.