The first 3 months are over, classes are done, finals are over. Now it’s time to reminisce about how strange freshman year of college is. Here are some things I have learned:

1. Dining dollars go quickly.

Dining dollars is the money you have stored in your student Id to purchase food in small cafes around campus. Here at SUNY Oswego, our on-campus cafes are called Lake Effect, Fusion, Fans, Crossroads, Glimmerglass Bistro, Ontario Bagel Company and The Wall Street Market. My best habit is spending less than $4 on a lunch at Lake Effect, a Starbucks passion fruit iced tea/lemonade with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My worst habit is going to Fans for smoothies… every Monday Wednesday and Friday before my Spanish class. (Thank you full meal plan for putting $80 on my student id)

2. You will like some teachers more than others.

Just like beginning high school you meet teachers that you may have multiple times within your time there. Just as it is with peers, you will not always get along with the teachers you have, but hey, that is life. It is normal to not like at least one of your teachers, but do not let it get in the way of your grades.

3. Living in a dorm is fun but sometimes annoying.

The nicest way I can say this is: everyone needs some alone time. Whether it be to do homework in silence, take some ‘me’ time or to take a well-deserved nap, everyone has at least one time where they wish their roommate was not there. It is nothing against my roommate (she is my best friend) but considering both of us are only children, we have learned when the other needs to be alone.

4. It’s hard to live with another person.

This is more of a weird thing for me than others I would presume. I am an only child, therefore
I’m used to living in my own room, not sharing and being able to sleep with the lights off. It’s weird to share such close quarters with someone who 5 months ago I never even knew existed. Like my friend Jenna said to be in the dining hall the other day: “Look at all these homies, you know, 4 months ago they most likely did not know each other, think about it if we did not meet at orientation, we probably would not even know each other”

5. Caffeine makes people angry.

Do not pull an overnighter. Do not pull an overnighter. I will say it one more time… DO NOT PULL AN OVERNIGHTER. All nighters mess up your emotions and make you more snappy than you usually are.

6. Everyone comes from a different background.

You learn that the expression ‘Upstate New York’ means something different to everyone. Westchester is upstate… right? Ask my friend Julia, she will tell you that everywhere except the area of Potsdam is downstate. I hate to break it to you, but she is right.

The blue dot is where SUNY Oswego is.

7. College isn’t for everyone.

A lot of people get to college and realize that secondary education is not for them. Which is completely alright, many people leave for many different reasons. Sometimes the workload is too much, you decide the military holds more for you or you would just rather go into the workforce now.

8. Changing majors will happen.

You can come to college and think for sure that you know what you want to do until you get through half of the semester and realize you may not be as good at your major as you may have liked to be. No one knows one hundred percent what they want to be when beginning college. I promise you, you will find what you’re supposed to be majoring in.

9. Knowing the bus schedule is so important.

On a campus like mine, everything is far away from each other. I like on west campus which sometimes feels as if it is miles from the center of campus. Although this distinction between home and school is nice, I would enjoy to not have my morning fifteen-minute walk to class. You learn how to read the bus schedule, or just know when it comes to the stops at your building. Not only is this useful for when you want to walk to class, but once snow begins, you will want to know when the bus is coming.

Here is a map of my campus just so you can understand the struggle.

10. Your grades will be different than in high school.

I knew that grades typically go down when you start secondary education, but the issue is, I wasn’t sure if I dropped until I looked up how the A-E system works. My high school would give us number grades even my GPAs were number grades. I would get handed back a paper and it would say 93, not A-. What is an A- what justifies an A-??? Am I at the top portion or the bottom portion of the A-... I need to know!! I need answers! ALSO how the heck does the GPA scale work???