Asher Roth was right when he sang those (not so) famous words: "I love college." High school was like being herded cattle, everyone was trying to mass you together and get you to the final destination quickly and painlessly without much freedom on your end. You were apart of a group and individuality was sparse because your parents and teachers wanted to get you there. That free, green pasture at the end was there. College is there and my god, is it different there.
My first day of classes as college "freshmeat" consisted of me having some light-bulb-flashing ideas about how to take on my first semester as a new and semi-improved free cow.
The first thing I quickly realized is that morning commute traffic is truly no joking matter. It takes me about seven minutes to get to my University without traffic and the morning ride took twenty five minutes. I made a mental note to check the traffic each morning and try to leave as early as possible. As I arrived at my first college class (ever!) my anxiety went into high gear. As my professor was talking about how much work we were going to receive this semester, it suddenly became very clear to me how small the room was and how unfriendly the atmosphere felt. Of course it was all in my head because not everyone is a ray of sunshine at 8:30 in the morning but, the room began to spin and this little cow was about to go tumbling down. I had to take a few deep breaths and stop to realize that it was literally the first day and everybody was on the same boat. It was like an information overload. Once I got past my usual nausea, I made my second mental note. In order to survive college, that's exactly what I can't do: just survive. You need to live and take in the moment rather than getting caught in your own head.
After my first class I had a literal three hour gap. In high school, I couldn't find time to go to the bathroom in those five minutes we had to switch classes and now I could've walked home, taken a nap, and walked back and probably still be early to my Intro To Communications class. Thus, mental note number three was made. College equals free time. Free time equals manage your time wisely. Knowing myself, I would probably try to be the perfect student for about a week before I started taking advantage of adult nap time but with all the workload I would be getting, I realized those time gaps are Godsent rather than just coincidences.
College in short is a dog being taken off its leash and the symbolism behind a bald eagle. It's freedom and it's startling but it's also the freshest breath of air I've taken in years. Here's to the next four!
