There's something about walking onto campus knowing you aren't the unstable, confused freshman anymore that is incredibly settling (although now you could most definitely still be unstable...I'm not sure just yet when you grow out of that). But if you made it out of your first year with mere bumps and bruises, congratulations! You're one year away from being the bottom of the food chain and one year closer to graduation! Life can only go up from here right?! Right, so reminiscing on freshman year you realize that now:
- You have learned how to spend as little money as possible on the necessities, like packing you and all your friends along with some random girl and all her friends into the same taxi so it cost less individually, keeping the tags on that dress you're probably only going to wear once (probably) before you return it, and filling up on coffee in the morning to prevent yourself from buying every food item in sight between classes.
- You know your way around campus. The days of wandering cluelessly from one building to another are finally gone and you can walk proudly with your head held high. You no longer have to pretend like you're texting while "discreetly" going back and forth between your schedule and a map of the school. (Freshman year I actually used a GPS to help me find a class; I'm not proud of it, but that's life, people).
- You are fully aware of what dining halls serve edible food and which serve something closely resembling dog food. There are certain dishes you wouldn't touch with a stick, let alone your fork, and you know exactly how to avoid them. And you know that when in doubt, go to the dining hall with the make your own waffle station, because it's nearly impossible to mess up a waffle.
- You know/recognize at least one person in every class. After having the entire first year to find your place and the people that inhabit it, you quickly make friends with your friends' friends, and their friends, and their friends' friends...okay, point made, got it. But wait, this is where the good part comes in, once you recognize someone, you have yourself a study buddy who could potentially double as a tutor or partner for group projects.
- You can wave goodbye to your dorm room and cry tears of happiness until the moment you step foot into your apartment/house. You make the transition from barely being able to turn in a full circle in your living conditions, to having the ability to eat each meal in a different room throughout the day (because that's what really matters, right?).
- You know the ins and outs of just about everything to do with your school, like where to get the best greasy sandwiches Sunday morning and how early you have to order your books from the school store before they're sold out. It took you an entire year to learn all there is to know about life on campus, and now its time to sit back and enjoy watching the incoming freshman go through the same thing you did.