1. Feeling safer crossing the street during your daily game of Frogger than crossing at a crosswalk.
I, for one, have never been nearly hit by a car while crossing Rose, Euclid, or Woodland on my way home, but have definitely almost been hit by a car with a left turn light while the little white man told me it was safe to walk. Safely jaywalk whenever possible.
2. Simultaneously missing your freshman year meal plan and feeling lucky you don't have to deal with the crap UK Dining has turned into the past two years.
As one of our own writers has expressed, UK Dining has taken a sharp downturn over the past two years, but especially so this year. For those of us here before, it is both really sad that it happened and kind of satisfying that we have not had to deal with the negative ramifications of it like younger students have. As Devon pointed out, this is most definitely not a chipotle chicken wrap. 
3. Constantly struggling between conserving money for later in the semester and wanting to eat out.
For those of us without a credit card billed to our parents, relying on scholarship money or loans means learning how to manage money well enough that you are not starving or homeless by the end of the semester.
4. Feeling like you're a real adult because your name is on a gas bill that comes each month.
When you live on campus, you do not see how cranking the AC or heat affects your bottom line because it just doesn't. For the many UK students who do not have utilities included, it is jarring to see how much money we have to pay for things as necessary as water or heat. Bring on the layers.
5. But your parents still pay your phone bill or car insurance.
Even for the relatively financially independent, there is usually something your parents still pay for you. While I pay my for my sorority, food, gas, rent, and utilities, I would absolutely not make it if I had to pay my car payment, car insurance, phone bill, or tuition, the last of which I am lucky enough to have a scholarship to cover and the rest of which my father pays without complaint. If you do pay all of that on your own though, serious kudos to you.
6. Buying all your food at Euclid Kroger and feeling good about yourself when you buy a vegetable.
There is just something about Euclid Kroger that makes my purchases of cereal and bread and popsicles more glamorous and adult, but the fact that I still feel good about myself when I choose to buy healthy food tells me I am not really there yet.
7. That feeling of anger and confusion when UK doesn't cancel class because they shoveled the sidewalks on campus.
And you have to walk through 18 inches of snow because the City of Lexington didn't shovel yours. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Class was not canceled the day this one was taken.
8. Wanting Starbucks on campus but getting plain coffee because the days of Flex dollars are long over.
As much as a love a triple grande hazelnut macchiato with skim milk, I am simply not willing to pay $5 for it anymore when I can get more caffeine for so much less by ordering a venti Pike and seem far less like the 20-year-old girl that I am.
9. Running outside and working out in your own apartment because the Johnson Center is entirely too far away.
Living a solid 20 minute walk from the only remaining gym on campus and not wanting a pre and post workout walk means learning to run outside and buying a yoga mat and free weights for your own home. Besides, this way no one can judge me for how hard I'm breathing.
10. Feeling like a citizen of Lexington and realizing all you missed when your car was in K Lot.
On a serious note, it took moving off campus for me to realize what an incredible city I was lucky enough to call my home away from home. Now, I feel the pulse of this city, one with a small town charm despite its size. We are all so fortunate to live here.
11. Laughing at the push from UK for upperclassmen to stay on campus.
While it might eventually be viable, even the UK freshmen already get the idea that it is most common for sophomores, juniors, and seniors to live off campus or in Greek housing. The new upperclassman dorms being built on south campus will eventually fill and maybe it will become the norm for students to stay on campus two years before moving off campus, but it will be long after we are gone.
12. Having all this perceived freedom but squandering it on Netflix and delivery food.
Part of being an adult is having freedom and choosing to spend it exercising, cleaning, and otherwise doing things we don't really want to do. Needless to say, that doesn't always go as planned.
13. Knowing you couldn't imagine your college experience any other way.
Students at other schools live on campus for three or four years without batting an eye, and often think it is weird that we have so much freedom so early in our lives. But this is part of what makes living off campus here so great; we not only have the appearance of freedom, but we really do have an awful lot of it. We do not have to check in guests or worry about the time of night we arrive home or live out of a mini-fridge or share a communal kitchen, so by the time we graduate we actually have an idea of how to live in the real world. Don't worry, though. There's Netflix there, too.
