As a college freshman myself, I am a first hand witness to both the excitement and terror of living away from home for the first time. I've found that many of the wonderful things about college have negative drawbacks to boot and that not all options are good ones.
1. I can eat whatever food I want.
They don't call it the "Freshman 15" for no reason. With my meal plan, I am welcome to an unlimited amount of food at the dining hall. They offer burgers, pizza, salad, soup, sandwiches, Mexican food, dessert...you name it, they have it. I could choose to eat in moderation and eat some veggies with my protein OR I could choose to eat a slice of pizza, a burger, some fries and maybe a cupcake if I can squeeze it in. Unfortunately for me, choosing the latter would be painless seeing as my mom is nowhere around to tell me I can't. I didn't realize I had an impulse problem until I came to college. Oops.
2. I can stay out as late as I want, whenever I want.
I have no curfew anymore! Such a plus...except for when I have an 8 a.m. One of the biggest surprises of college was that people go out on school nights, too! I could stay out with friends and spend all my money and not worry about the consequences of not going to bed at a reasonable hour.
3. I only have a couple hours of class each day.
Since us freshman are straight out of high school (where classes take up eight hours of our day), it felt at first like we had so much extra time to do whatever we want. I've quickly discovered the amount of studying each class actually requires and the freedom of all that extra time suddenly doesn't seem so fabulous anymore.
4. No parents!
Six months before we graduated from high school, I remember my friends telling me about fights with their parents and saying, "I'm so ready to be out of here." But now that I'm actually here, and my parents are miles away, I've found myself much more homesick than I was expecting. Sure, no parents makes my life a million times easier, but where's that home cooked meal when I need one?
5. There's no one here to tell me to clean my room.
I am under no obligation to pick my clothes up off the floor or make my bed anymore. I realized very quickly that there's a comfort in coming home after a long day to a made bed and clean surroundings, yet at seven a.m. there's no motivation to pick up my belongings or wash my dishes.
