Dear Incoming Freshmen,

Congratulations! You've made it past the turbulence of high school and are now beginning to create a home at CUSE. If you were anything like me, you may have spent evenings scouring the incoming students FB page, joined all the Snapchat groups, and became familiar with a wide range of students that you could hold onto for comfort. You may have stayed up for hours filled with both dread and excitement at the countdown of departing for college. Perhaps you daydreamed about various ways college would change you; how its independence and rigor would create a more dedicated student than the one in high school. That was certainly the case for me. Perhaps you poured over countless student-run blogs about the stress that college students face and developed a larger fear about how you would possibly survive, that was also me. I am here as a source of comfort to remind you that although college is an entirely different ballpark than high school, it is a world you will grow into and learn to love.

College, like all life experiences, is not a one-size-fits-all. You've seen the movies, you've heard the rumors of insane parties that end with cops shutting them down, and binge drinking that can sometimes lead to a trip to the hospital. However, this is not the experience for every student. During my first semester, I only went to three parties: one my very first night, another a few weeks later, and Halloween weekend. While I've heard many classmates declare their love for CUSE's roaring nightlife (shout out to The Princeton Review who just declared CUSE the #1 Party school in the country) I myself have never identified with that sentiment. I found most parties to be a combination of either too cramped for dancing, music not loud enough, music not good enough to excite a crowd, or a crowd too rigid to let loose and dance. While my ideal party environment is one that plays the right amount of pop, has enough gays to gaze at, and people who "dance like no one is watching"; I unfortunately still have not found that, but I am optimistic that I will. Yet have no fear, I am here to announce that Cuse has a wide breadth of events to satisfy our diverse student body.

One of my favorite activities is attending the free movie screenings held on campus offered by Orange After Dark and University Union, two student-run organizations. While both feature a wide variety of popular, current blockbuster films, I am partial towards Orange After Dark for their Late-Night Movies that feature free popcorn and drinks. To to be more flexible for students, both groups show their films at different times at the same location, Gifford Auditorium at HBC (Huntington Beard Crouse), with a 30 minute to a 1-hour break in between. This means that you can attend an 8 pm showing from University Union and then walk over to Starbucks on Marshall Street for a drink before returning for the 11 pm screening from Orange After Dark. While this is a perfect opportunity for an on-campus movie date, which I highly recommend, it is also great for a night out with friends or just alone time. Furthermore, the University Union also hosts free advanced screenings on campus. This past year they did A Star Is Born, First Man, and Green Book among others. Orange After Dark offers discount tickets for private premieres that garner a lot of excitement, which also includes transport and entry in their price. This past year they sold tickets for Captain Marvel, Endgame, and the newest Fantastic Beasts installment.

There are a bunch of other events that both student organizations host. Orange After Dark targets the more active by providing events featuring Escape Rooms, Snow Tubing, Trampoline Parks, Laser Tag, and stressbusters around midterms and finals where they have free coffee and fun activities. On the other hand, the University Union invites guest speakers such as Tiffany Haddish, Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski, Issa Rae, and Brandon Stanton from Humans of New York among others. Not only are these events phenomenal at exposing students to a large selection of "Hollywood's" up-and-coming celebrities, but it also gives the opportunity to participate in a Q&A within a more private setting. Outside of the big three music festivals (Juice Jam, MayFest, and Block Party--which have featured Khalid, Travis Scott, SZA) University Union also hosts concerts throughout the year, which has included Pusha T, Joey Bada$, and Mura Masa.

These are just some of the ways to reward yourself for the effort that will be required of you in your first year of college.