1. Dressing up? Forget about it.

I remember my first day of classes on the big campus. I remember picking out my outfit the night before; this was my first day on a brand new adventure and I wanted to look my best. I can’t remember exactly what I had picked out (I’ve slept since then), but knowing me, it was probably a casual dress and some nice sandals. I had my hair curled and my makeup perfectly done—I was ready for the day! My very first dorm was Keene Hall, and we all know why Keene has the nickname of “Keene Island” and “The Twilight zone,” and that’s because it’s very far away from the rest of campus; it’s a good 15-minute walk if you’re lucky not to get caught at the bypass. I thought the walk wouldn’t be that bad, so I didn’t really think about what I was wearing. However, on my journey to the other side of campus, I noticed what the other girls were wearing around me, and I swear it was nothing but athletic wear. I immediately felt out-of-place. I wondered why nobody was dressed up; this was indeed the first day of classes! Then, after a few days of the long journey between the dorm and my classes, I realized why pretty much everyone I saw was wearing shorts, T-shirts and tennis shoes. My feet were killing me from the long walks. They were aching and I had blisters on the top of them. My cute dresses kept getting caught in the wind, Marilyn Monroe-style, and I was burning up. By the time I got to my first class I was sweating, my hair was everywhere and my feet hurt badly. Moral of the story? Dress comfortably. Trust me, it won’t take you long to realize I’m right.

2. You're not as in-shape as you thought you were.

Before you get on campus and classes start up, you’ll think to yourself “walking won’t be that bad.” Oh, my dear friend, it will be. Yes, walking isn’t that bad on its own, but just wait until you have two classes 15 minutes apart, on completely the opposite ends of campus. You won’t be walking, you will be running for your life. Or, when you have two fire alarms in the middle of the night and you live on the ninth floor and aren't allowed to take the elevators back up once it’s over--that’s always a joy, too. And there’s always that one or 12 times we wake up late and have to speed walk past everyone who is in our way, and by the time you finally make it to class you're exhausted and completely over the day before it even begins. With all of this, trust me, it may not be at first, but the walk just from your dorm to get food becomes ever-so draining after a while. Oh, and let’s not forget that all this walking/running has to be done with like 12 huge books in your bag because you don’t have the time or willpower to walk back and forth between classes and your dorm. The struggle is real sometimes, people.

3. Flex dollars are life.

Seriously though, I believe that having Flex dollars has become one of my favorite things about living on EKU's campus. If you don't know what Flex dollars are, then your college isn't spoiling you enough. Flex dollars are part of our meal plan, except for getting just so many meal swipes a semester for the cafe, we get a certain amount of money that we can spend at certain places on campus (and even some restaurants off campus), as well as just getting Flex dollars without any meal swipes because, options, people! Now, this may not sound too special, but it is! Instead of having to stock up on tons of snacks before coming to campus and making those late night trips to Walmart (even though we all know we make those trips sometimes just for kicks and giggles), with Flex dollars we can stop by the small convenience stores in the dorm, or stock up on the loads of snacks and quick dinners provided in downstairs Powell. And we can't forget that we can use Flex to quench our thirst for the Starbucks on campus. Flex has made my life easier so I don't have to pay straight out of pocket for things and more is available to me on campus at arm's length. If you don't believe Flex is life now, you will eventually.

When you have Flex dollars:

4. You will take naps in weird places.

Ah, sleep--something that is basically non-existent at college, and on the rare occasion that it does exist, you can count on it not lasting nearly long enough and happening in a very odd and inconvenient place. You're not sleepy when you're at the dorm at a decent hour to call it a night, but that sleepiness will catch up with you right in the middle of class, and you find yourself struggling to keep your eyes open. So you sit in a way that maybe the professor won't notice that your eyes are closed, or maybe you'll nonchalantly whip some sunglasses on, paint eyes on top of your eyelids, or maybe you'll just give up and be that one kid who falls asleep sitting straight up and with their mouth hanging open--don't put it past yourself. The classroom isn't the only time you'll see students catching a snooze, though. If there's an open bench right in the smack-middle of campus, don't be surprised if someone is asleep on it. You hear snoring in the library and find someone curled up on top of a desk somewhere? Honestly, it's not unusual. I didn't understand how people could take naps like that until my senior year in college where all of a sudden I found myself swamped with classes, internships, and extra curricular activities, and with that I also found myself piled-up asleep in the library.

5. College? Enjoy it.

Although college is undoubtedly exhausting and stressful, the most important thing that I've learned living on campus so far is to simply enjoy it, and to enjoy every moment, even the trying ones. Time flies by and before you know it college is over and the real world has come. So enjoy getting to simply walk to the cafe, swipe your card and have food. Enjoy having your friends close by. Enjoy getting to take a hot shower. Enjoy having computers and technology available to you. Enjoy having facilities open to you like gyms, studios, etc. Enjoy having a roof over your head and somewhere to sleep at night. Enjoy getting to take random classes just for kicks and giggles. Enjoy having a place that provides for you. Enjoy all the crazy moments, the sad moments, the peaceful moments, and the absolutely blissful moments--they will be gone too soon. Whether we want to admit it or not, our college campus becomes like home to us, and one day we'll look back at even our most stressful times in college and smile.