Trying to describe college can be one of those things where you never really know what to say. Your mind floods with good and bad experiences and they all jumble into one giant mess of mixed emotions. Well, stress no more, I have sought out the help of our friends at Monsters Inc. to help me out. Here are 10 ways Monsters Inc. accurately depicted the "college experience."
1. Adulting.
We all remember that day when our parents dropped us off for the first time. We were young naive freshman who had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, and yet our parents were confident in our "adulting" skills...Little did we know...
2. Spinning in circles.
Those first couple weeks of classes that are filled with syllabi, new friends, and first time late night cookout runs leave us in this happy little daze that makes us feel as though we have completely conquered the whole college thing. Nothing could possibly bring us down.
3. Caf food is interesting.
Okay guys, let's be real. We have all had that cafeteria food experience where we honestly are afraid of the food on the plate in front of us. Is it chicken? Beef? Fish? Is this "food" really safe to consume? In the end we have all eventually caved and consumed the very false advertised mystery dinner (or we've just settled for a bowl of cereal).
4. Early classes.
What is something that can make any college student tremble? 8am's. If there is anything worse than finals week, it's trying your hardest not to hit your snooze button one more time, getting out of your warm bed, and attempting to trek across campus to get to your first class of the day on time. No thank you, I'll just take more sleep please.
5. Lack of sleep.
Speaking of sleep. If there is anything that can accurately depict a typical trend on a college campus, it's gotta be the epidemic known as "sleep deprivation." Those nights filled with endless piles of homework, projects, and studying sometimes demand that you give up those precious hours of sleep in hopes that you can squeeze in a nap the next day (which usually never happens). In those times of heavy eyelids, drowsy small talk, and walking around campus like a zombie, the next best thing to a goodnight's sleep is a giant cup of hot roasted coffee.
6. Gen Eds.
"Gen Eds." The bane of a college students existence. Those classes that you are forced to take that require you to try and muster up all of the knowledge you can remember from those classes you took back in high school (which we all know we forgot about the second that final bell rang senior year). What always ends up happening is you sitting in class desperately taking notes just to wind up being just as confused as you were back in high school.
7. Ring before spring.
We have all heard that lovely and yet very taunting little rhyme "ring before spring." I mean the whole reason we go off to college is to meet our future spouses, right? Whether that's true or not, at some point you will ponder the thought of love, relationships, and marriage. Either way you end up keeping your eye open for that special someone to come along who will love you for all your strange habits, stupids puns, and sleep deprived antics. Until then, just keep working on those cheesy pick up line of yours.
8. Homework, homework, and oh yeah, more homework.
Absences, zeros, and fails, oh my! There comes a point in the semester when you feel as though the world is caving in around you. Homework is piling up, due dates are rapidly approaching, and those days where you accidentally sleep through your alarm are already attacking you full blast. All the while, your parents keep reminding you that you gotta get that 3.5 GPA because to them the "Dean's List" is epitome of all acknowledgements in the world of collegiate academia. Well, it's time to crack down, drink that 6th cup of coffee, and break out your monster stack of flash cards because finals week is approaching like a shark ready to attack.
9. Finals.
After the initial panic of finals week (somewhat) subsides. You take a deep breathe, make a detailed schedule of your life for the next two weeks, and pray that you can make it through this battle against your GPA, and come out with victory... (Or so you hope). But we all know that schedule ends up falling under your bed when you fall asleep studying and then you decide trying to hide your sleep deprived panic is easier than following that mess of a schedule anyway.
10. Finals week is OVER.
Then that beautiful day finally arrives. The day you can wake up and officially say you have made it through finals week, passed all your classes, and you have successfully registered for next semester to do it all over again. But until then, you are going to go home, sleep, and binge watch as much Netflix as you possibly can.
But ultimately as you reflect on the semester you finished, you know deep down that you are gonna miss those long stressful days, and those even longer crazy nights side by side with your dearest friends. So you learn to appreciate the beauty in the chaos as you look forward to all the new semesters to come.
