College seems like a rather scary time in many freshman's’ lives.
You have no idea what to expect, where things are, who anyone is, and everything is brand new. I won’t lie, the thought of sharing showers and bathrooms with 50 other girls was a little strange to me. Especially since I had no idea whether to take a robe or a towel, if my clothes would get soaked, or whatever else. Day by day, new college freshman wing every single thing they do. I know I did, and I still am.
Moving in was scary, but living there without my family was even scarier. It was all up to me to get to church in the morning across town, and it was up to me to be responsible for where I parked, where I ate, and how I was going to pay for school. I didn’t even know what to bring, and ended up leaving all of my books and notepads at home in a completely different state. Though, I quickly realized it was time to “adult” and do something that I’d like to call “problem solve”. Sounds terrifying, right? Well, it didn’t take long to be reassured of my many fears of moving to college. I learned a lot very quickly, and found out how to make the best of my new home and new lifestyle. If I can, everyone else can, too. Here are ten things I believe every college freshman should know.
1. People really won’t judge you
My second night in college, I went to a party at the campus’s union. My roommate and I walked around shyly and were contemplating what to do and where to go. Everyone was dancing and having fun, and I sat back and just watched them do it. Within twenty minutes or so, I developed a “screw it, who cares” mood. Let me say, this was an amazing decision. I got up, danced, met strangers who became friends, and ended up doing things that I normally wouldn’t do. Because of this, I had an unforgettable night. I felt like by dancing, I’d be judged. There were so many people, though, that nobody really minded. People wanted to dance, and many of them didn’t know how. Many watched in awe, and those like me that we're afraid of having fun turned out to be the people that everyone was impressed by. If you sit by yourself and watch, nobody will judge you. You’re not wrong if you believe that. But if you believe for a second that anyone will judge you for getting up and dancing and having a good time, you’re absolutely wrong. Do whatever you want. Blast your favorite music, wear that ugly sweater, dance even if you can’t! Maybe high schoolers judged you for the smaller things, but college students will do just about whatever it takes to get to class or make something work. Wearing a snuggie and rollerblading to class just got cool, and taping trash bins together to use them as a table for your television is officially a thing. Get used to it!
2. The freshman 15 is a REAL THING.
I didn’t believe it for a second. I figured, “Oh, I’ll eat as much in school as I have in the past.” No. The cafe food may not be quality to SOME people, but for students like me that have a never-ending stomach, it’s a wonderland. I could finish five plates of food and still be down for ice cream just because it’s there and we are all in that “screw it” state of mind. I weigh 110 pounds, and even though I have a semi-decent metabolism, that’ll either kick in for me or go straight to hell. It’s a great idea to walk to class or go to the gym to work off the calories. They exist, more than I ever thought they would. I haven’t seen it yet, but I can see that it’s easily obtainable if other students have eaten as much as I have. Except not everyone has a decent metabolism, or works out often, or walks whenever they can. College is the busiest time for some, and the laziest for others. Depending on what you are, be smart about how much you eat, but make sure you enjoy yourself!
3. You will meet ALL sorts of people.
I’ve met every kind of person that is known. People from around the world, people of all sizes, people that have opinions alike and different from yours, and even types of people that I didn’t know existed. It was kind of scary at first, but it was also really cool. Now, I think it’s even more cool. Just getting to have the opportunity to surround yourself with so many different people was pretty amazing. Getting to befriend them, hear what they have to say, and learning about how they live. My college holds so many different cultures as well as people that claim those cultures and being able to see them all firsthand is a wonderful experience. It’s like traveling the world in a week.
4. You’ll really get used to noise.
Dorms are a noisy environment, we all can assume that a bunch of college kids (especially girls) don’t really know how to keep it down living next door to their best friends. I wake up to women screaming in the halls, men banging on our doors, and spend the remainder of the day hearing music blaring from rooms and girls singing in the shower. It’s really nice, actually, because it gives me a sense of community. Coming from a small town with minimal to no noise, I actually enjoy being able to hear the outside a little bit. Even if it can sometimes be inappropriate or uncalled for, and sometimes it gets obnoxious, but I don’t think i’d rather have it any other way. The world would be so lonely without noise.
5. Milk is actually not a bad thing to have in the dorm room.
At first, I was really against having milk in the dorm room. I thought, “No, it’s gonna get expired and smell and I won’t be able to even remember to take it out and toss it.” But, turns out, I needed milk and wanted it a lot more than I thought I would. It literally goes with half of the things that I eat in my dorm room or even could eat really. Just remember, milk may not be as bad as you would think to keep in a dorm room.
6. College kids can and will invent literally anything.
I saw a kid on a bike with a motor on it riding the bike like, 35 mph down the road. It was amazing. I’ve also seen rollerblades and skateboards with motors on them just casually riding along to class. It’s pretty crazy. We also know how to make about anything work. For example, I couldn’t get my shades to open because they were broke so I just tied them all together with my hair band and they looked like classy curtains from outside. That’s a very minimal invention I guess for me, but I’ve gotten so used to just figuring things out to make other things work that it’s just hard to pick them out. You really start using things in ways that are actually pretty perfect, and you never would have tried them unless you went to college.
7. NEVER take your backpack downtown at night. Or really anything of value.
It’s common sense not to go lurking through the night with your personal expensive belongings, but you have to be a bit more careful than you probably think. My first weekend of college, I heard that about 3-4 people, students precisely, got robbed at gunpoint or by knife. They were all carrying backpacks. People just know that when you have a backpack, you’re probably lugging around your laptop and maybe some cash or an expensive calculator. It’s not really smart to take those things downtown. For that, I’d advise to just study on campus.
8. Nobody plays games with clowns.
Okay so we can all remember that crazy clown epidemic, right? Where clowns were just attacking people and popping out of the woods and crap? Yeah well that happened at our school, except, go figure, it was a bunch of idiot boys. But you know what happened? Everyone FREAKED out and the dorms were on lockdown, and people were literally sprinting inside of any shelter to avoid these weirdos. I watched it on the news WHILE it was happening and it was just some sketchy stuff, dude. My roommate and I barricaded the door to our room with all of our furniture. We don’t mess with clowns. Nobody does.
9. Don’t bring stuff to college you wouldn’t be okay with losing, for the most part.
I’ve lost so many things at college, it’s not funny. I lost so many shirts, socks, random things of mine have gone missing, etc. I don’t know if girls just take your stuff from the dryer if they see something they like or if I’m going bonkers. I’ve lost so many of my personal belongings and some of my favorite shirts. I would highly advise that unless you’d be okay losing it, really, don’t bring it to a place where it is basically available for anyone’s use. There have been times where I have left my dorm room open and forgotten to shut the door, times where I forgot my clothes in the laundry over the weekend and someone takes it out and throws it all over the counter… Things happen. Just make sure you’re doing what you can to prevent as many things you care about getting lost/taken as possible.
10. There is no shame in wearing sweats everywhere.
I can’t stress it enough how often I wake up for my 8 a.m. class and don’t even change out of my pj’s. I refuse to wear jeans when I’m sitting in a room learning about cellular respiration and all about phosphate. No, I wear sweats literally all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I can dress nicely, I just simply decide not to because WHO THE HELL WEARS UNCOMFORTABLE JEANS AND DRESSES TO A CLASS AT 8AM ON A MONDAY. Literally what???????? No. You can’t PAY me to have that kind of crazy mindset. Those are the people I don’t trust.So yeah, you have a lot to look forward to.
