Starting your freshmen year of college is a scary time. Thinking about leaving home, meeting tons of new people and sharing your room is hardly comforting. However, I unfortunately, had the pleasure of having an even more unique start to my freshman year. Two weeks before I left for school I broke my foot. I decided to compile a list of 10 things that happen when you start college with a broken foot.
move in day, bottom bunk, laundry, less involved, take on anything
1. People Stare
College kids are not known as the kindest demographic and they stare a lot. No one will ever really say anything but they will absolutely see you and will in no way try to let you through or make getting through a crowd any easier.
2. People Will Ask
Seeing someone in a cast is bound to make some people ask you what happened. This is totally fine if you fell in some kind of crazy way or in a freak accident, but I just tripped down some stairs which is not a cool story, especially if you tell it over and over again.
3. Allies
Every time I'm hobbling around campus with my big, bulky, grey boot on and I see someone else in a cast I automatically feel and instant bond between the two of us and out injured bodies.
4. Huge Campus
My campus is enormous and getting from Point A to Point B can take 10-12 minutes anyway, never mind when I'm limping in a giant cast. I have to allot so much extra time to get to class. Freshmen weekend was especially daunting because every activity was so far away from the next one and it was incredibly hot, making for a miserable time.
5. STAIRS
I cannot even tell you how many stairs I've had to climb this past week, which is annoying in it of itself let alone while I have a broken foot and a heavy cast. A lot of the buildings don't have elevators and I can honestly say that I would be thrilled if I never saw a step or set of stairs ever again.
6. Bottom Bunk
Because I broke my foot before I got to school, I got to choose to be on the bottom bunk and not have to worry about climbing to one of the lofted beds in my forced triple. This saved a lot of stress and risk of possibly injuring my foot even more.
7. Laundry
Because I can only wear one shoe my laundry basket includes lots of mismatched socks because I wear one regular sock and one long sock on my broken foot. This will make for an interesting time when I go to fold my socks.
8. Less Involved
With my foot constantly hurting and being forced to wear a heavy boot all the time, it makes it hard to want to walk far away from my dorm when I don't have to and it makes it impossible to participate in certain dorm games and races.
9. Move- In Day
I live on the third floor of a building without an elevator which made carrying my stuff to my dorm on move- in day particularly challenging. I thankfully had my family and people from the school to help move me in though.
10. Jumped In
Jumping into college with a broken foot makes most everything else a little bit easier. Once my foot heals soon I can be back to my normal self and be more active and involved. I may always be known as "boot girl" but at least I already know how to handle being hurt away from home and in a new environment.
