Let me paint a picture for all of you crazy college kids out there. Think back to the morning of your first ever move in day. You packed up your little blue Toyota Corolla named Betsey to the point where she was dragging on the road and blasted "I Love College" by Asher Roth on repeat until you finally pulled onto campus to start the most amazing four years of your life.
Writing this as a worldly and mature senior (forget mature, I still laugh at the ICUP trick), I am sad to admit, that the description I just wrote about was me, almost four years ago as a freshman. I tried my best to act cool and like I had it all together, but the reality of it was that I was scared half to death, mainly because I didn't know if it was acceptable to bring a stuffed animal to college. FYI, I'm 21 years-old and have a monkey, a duck, and two sloths sitting on my dorm bed as I type this. But now a new legacy is beginning. As I enter my last year of actual happiness, my sister will be coming to FDU as a freshman. I am so excited to say the least, but there are very big differences that being a senior and a freshman entail.
1. The swipe situation.
Freshman: "Ah, yes, I've got my handy dandy lanyard so I'll wear it around my neck so I never lose my swipe. I'm so responsible."
Senior: "Ugh, I have to go to Public Safety again, I lost my swipe for the third time this month. Maybe it's in that kid's room? Should I text him and ask?...nah."
2. The salad bar fiasco.
Freshman: Uh, oh. This is it. Ok, wait, the salad bar is in the middle of the caf, which side do I sit on? Let me just stare at it for a little bit until I make a decision. I guess I can switch from side to side, right? Is that not okay?
Senior: Alright, I'm walking in, standing on line for omelet lady and then getting a table in the back on the left side of the salad bar so I can see who walks in/who I need to avoid.
2. The ZEN/NAB crisis of 2014-2015.
Freshman: My first class is all the way across campus in the ZEN.
Senior: We don't have that building on campus. Maybe you should try Drew or St. Elizabeth's.
3. The dorm raids.
Freshman: Let's go to Park Ave, I heard it's a wet building and we can totally get drunk off three Mike's Hard and find a party. There have to be some people drinking on a Tuesday, right?
Seniors: Alright, it's a Tuesday, let's blackout before we go to Grasshopper, maybe a freshman can drive us.
4. The Hamilton/Florence Hallway pic.
Freshman: Let's take a cute roommate pic before we go out. I think the hallway has really good lighting, it will be so totally college of us. We can caption it first night out with the best roomie, evah.
Seniors: If we take six shots before the Uber gets here then we have maybe like THREE minutes to take a halfway decent, completely hammered picture of all of us. Good, glad we all take better pictures drunk anyway.
So this is a shoutout to all those incoming freshman out there, here are a few tips of the trade: frat boys are cool but very dangerous; always wear sandals in the showers; go out on a Wednesday night and make friends with the cute kid on the floor above you (he'll become your best friend); jump in the fountain; make a sad sandwich in the caf; play frisbee on the Rutherford lawn; skip a class to go out to eat at Nonna's; sleep all day on Sunday then spend the entire night in the library.
Most importantly, cherish these next four years because I swear they have been the best moments of my life and I would do anything to go back to being that lanky freshman from Staten Island who didn't know why CosCos from the Grill called her Shakira every night.
