Freshman year of college: where the first seven days feel more like two months, fast friendships and new adventures are in abundance, and suddenly everything you’ve been dreaming and wondering about is right in front of you.
As someone who is currently experiencing this whirlwind of new sensations in an unfamiliar environment, I have to take a moment to reflect on everything that’s changed in the last seven days. Yes, classes have started again, but this time instead of being the nerd that comes in and sits in the front row in a class of twenty-five apathetic, fresh-off-of-summer high schoolers, getting to class 20 minutes early at Cal means I’ll be sitting behind 100 of my peers that headed to class even earlier. This was my first indication that what you learn in college is so much more than learning the subjects in your classes.
Suddenly you’re surrounded by friends all the time. And I mean ALL the time. There’s nothing like coed bathrooms to solidify a friend for life. It takes some getting used to but suddenly it feels weird to open the door and have the place to yourself when the past few nights featured a few toothbrushing buddies.
Nights themselves become a question of what are we doing (trying a new sport in the gym, hosting a movie night in a tiny dorm room, playing an an entire game of Cards Against Humanity) as opposed to endless complaining that there’s utterly nothing to do in insert-hometown-here. With so many new people, every topic is new and has the potential for hilarious and wonderful conversations.
Meeting new people is always a fascinating experience in that you never know who you might meet at any given time. A fellow freshman that already owns a start-up, a musical genius in the lounge, or even a random person in a 300 person class that happens to live two floors above you.
Living in a triple is...tight. But surprisingly manageable. Opposite schedules with roommates are rougher. When that blaring alarm goes off before 7 on a day you don’t have a class until 12, you can’t help but sigh a little bit. But it all works out when the next day you’re the one heading out at an unreasonable hour. #compromise
In the end, the biggest thing I’m realizing is that we’re all in this together. At first it felt like no one else was experiencing the same feelings I was. Whether that meant homesickness (even though my home is 25 minutes away, it’s just not the same as actually being there), literal days of free time with friends you haven’t made yet, or just general discomfort with the new living conditions. Turns out the key to feeling better about any of these is to appreciate their universality and commiserate with everyone else. Everyone else is most likely feeling the same uneasiness and experiencing the same struggles, so rely on each other. Laugh about the weirdness, show each other pictures of your dogs, talk about the funny texts your parents send you. The more you bring the two worlds (soft, warm, familiar comfort of home and the new, exciting, crowded, high energy environment of college) together, the easier the transition will be.
So whether you’re like me and just at the beginning of your college adventures, or you’re like a lot of my friends still waiting and wondering what everything is going to be like, keep in mind that while doing well in classes is important–that is sortttt of the whole reason we’re here, remember–you’re going to learn a LOT more than how to derive equations and analyze ancient Roman literature. Stay calm, call your mom, and don’t be afraid to reach out to your best resource: all the people living within ten feet of you going through the exact same experiences.
