Freshman year can be a little bit embarrassing, but why don't we look back at some of the most iconic moments of college freshman year and add a hilarious spin on them? The cast of "Friends" does a great job at entertaining millennials all across the nation with their antics and unforgettable one-liners, and they can definitely attest to the struggles of freshman year. Let's start at the beginning . . .
1. Move In Day
Trying to maneuver all of your furniture that will probably just sit and collect dust in your dorm room looks something like this . . .
2. Making Friends
So, you know that making friends in high school was hard because you were bound by your stereotype, but that was only level one. Introducing yourself to people is really scary since you don't know if they are actually going to care. In this case, Chandler was me trying to make friends with people in my first week of college.
3. Getting Lost on Campus
Yeah, you're way too cool to walk around campus with your map in hand ...until you get lost trying to find your class. A few things can happen here: you either roam aimlessly around campus for the building you're convinced only comes out during a full moon and give up searching, or you're confident enough that you're in the right place for Spanish 101 and end up walking into the wrong classroom and get the condescending stares of the students in the 400 level class. Then you give up and say to yourself . . .
4. First Emergency...And Mom's Not There
As many college freshman are, Rachel Green. Take, for example, that you're in front of your friends doing laundry and you accidentally ruin your clothes, your favorite crisp white shirt now a fluffy shade of cotton candy pink. You say...
And, internally, you probably are.
5. First Party
Red Solo cups are strewn across the fraternity house, and from a distance, you spy the man of your dreams. You're clinging to your group of girl friends and you say . . .
An upperclassmen stumbles on your conversation, and, judging by their glance, further emphasizes the fact that you're a freshman. So, you come to the conclusion that boys won't ever approach you . . .
Later on, said man of your dreams offers you a drink, and you smile shyly, twirling your hair around your finger. You play it cool on the outside, but inside, you're actually doing this . . .
After the party where you've clearly had too much alcohol for your own good, your friends decide to check up on you . . .
Congratulations, you've survived your first night of shameless intoxication.
6. First All-Nighter
So, as many of us do, that paper or assignment sneaks up on us because we put it off until the last possible second. Thankfully, we manage to squeeze it out on time before our 9 a.m. class starts, but we feel the consequences of it the next day. All day, we walk around campus miserable, wishing that the bags under our eyes were Prada . . .
7. Eating the Cafeteria Food
We've been spoiled all our lives with mom's home-cooked meals, and walking into the college cafeteria, we're inclined to expect something similar. Now, I'm slightly biased considering the experience I've had at my university, but I'm sure we can all attest to the first time we tasted a less-than-ideal bite of a cafeteria meal. You probably said to your friends. . .
8. The Freshman 15
It is not a myth, people! Unfortunately, late night Taco Bell runs and devouring junk food in the wee hours of the morning while pulling all-nighters get the better of you without an exercise regimen. We all say that we're going to eat healthy and exercise, but life usually gets in the way, and we end up like Chandler here . . .
9. Dead Week
It's supposed to be called "Dead Week" because you don't do anything except study for finals, right? Well, not the case at my school. My "Dead Week" was a culmination of me singing "The 12 Days of Christmas" with these lyrics instead...
"12 cough drop wrappers, 11 snotty tissues, 10 mental breakdowns, nine cups of coffee, eight broken pencils, seven study sessions, six fits of crying, five papers due, four nights in hell, three days left, two hours of sleep, and an overworked and unpaid college kid!"
By the second day, I looked like Phoebe...
10. Handling Stress
You walked out of your History test feeling okay about your grade, but then you get it back, and your whole day is over. Not to mention, you have three tests and a paper left before the weekend...and it's only Tuesday. As you lament in the library to your friends, recounting your plights and trying not to cry, you probably said...
11. Winter Break
You come back home for winter break with lifeless eyes and a newly discovered penchant for caffeine. Your concerned parents see you drag yourself through the front door, and your conversation probably goes something like this . . .
12. Care Packages
The day has finally come when we run out of Bonus Bucks to spend at Starbucks, and we don't want to eat another cold slice of pizza from the cafeteria. Before we throw ourselves into a pit of despair, we check our mailboxes to find...a care package! Parents always know how to make your day just a little bit better, and when you open it up in your room and find some of your favorite snacks and a sweet note of encouragement, the feels hit you too hard, and you call your parents crying...
13. One of Those Days
Whether it's that one professor giving you an unreasonable amount of work to do or the obnoxious people living down the hall keeping you up at night, everyone has just one of those days. Basically, you're absolutely OK with looking like you just rolled out of bed, pushing your earbuds in so far to drown out the rest of the world, and your response to everything is . . .
14. Best Friends
Whether you're Greek or not, everyone had best friends their freshman year. They were the people that saw you at your best and your worst, and they loved you all the same. They told you their secrets, and you told them yours, and the bond between freshman best friends is too special to even explain. I ask myself constantly, "What would my life have been like without those people?" I don't even want to imagine it.
I know that I could always count on them to eat chocolate and cry with me when I needed it, or to scream the latest radio hits out the window as we drove down the highway at midnight. Nothing can explain it better than this...
15. Saying Goodbye
No matter how crappy that dorm bed was, a small part of you misses the discomfort of it because of the memories you made there. Sure, it may not have been the nicest of living quarters, but when you call a place home for long enough, it kind of starts to feel like it.
Goodbyes are always hard, especially when you say them to people you have grown to be like family to in a little less than a year. Saying goodbye to my best friend was so hard, and a lot of ugly crying was involved . . .
We will see each other next fall, but it's not the same as being able to go get lunch together whenever we want or running down the hall to catch each other up on the latest gossip. The people we grow close to during our freshman year become a part of us, and it becomes really hard to let those people go, even just for ten weeks. Goodbyes really do suck.
There is good news though. We get to come back next fall and live the college experience all over again, just a little bit older and wiser this time. A new year means new memories, each of them as imperfect and beautiful as the ones the year before.
"So, no one told you life was gonna be this way," but that's the fun of it. Here's to a great freshman year. Have a great summer, and a sappy sophomore year!
