Pirate Nation is an incredible place that a lot of people don't have the chance to experience.

Here are 14 things you discover when you attend ECU.

1. Greek life isn't like the movies; it's much more than that. Much, much more.

2. Everyone says you’ll meet the person you’ll eventually marry in college -- until you go to ECU where partying and hook ups are a lot more common than relationships. 

3. Food does not magically appear in the fridge, although we wish it did. 

4. Friday classes are a terrible idea. 

5. Everything is optional unless it says mandatory, then it’s still optional. 

6. Living in "the grid" is a dangerous/fun experience everyone should have. 

7. If you want to use the bathroom downtown make sure you are very drunk because those bathrooms are nasty.

8. The nightly specials every day of the week are probably making us alcoholics. 

9. If you're going to fail the class, save your GPA and drop it. 

10. Tailgating is much more important than the actual football game. 

11. The creepy old man doesn’t want to give you a drink; he wants to give you a ticket. 

12. Wearing your lanyard around your neck just tells everyone who the new freshmen are. 

13. You can never say no to a free t-shirt. 

14. We're young and need to take advantage. Outside of college it will never be appropriate to get belligerent at 8 a.m. for a football game or go out on a Monday night just because we feel like it. In that case, we need to party like pirates while we still have time to be one.